Steve Coops

Stardisc


CLEA DATA FILE

Identity:

  • Gemma Smith

CLEA Classification:

  • Alpha Superior

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Alpha ability – By touching an object and concentrating on it she can link it to his mind and control it via a form of telekinesis. Unlike her brother, Paul she can link to more than one object at the same time. (maximum of five)
    Trying to get an object to build up speed takes quite some time so she tends to throw them to give an initial starting velocity and “steer” them inflight. Note: Since she has linked to her “hover disc” (see below) she can only throw/control four other objects.
  • Alpha ability – During her time with Chaos Gemma acquired an experimental hover craft which she linked to her mind. Using her ability she can levitate it high off the ground and use it to fly around.
  • Alpha ability – her choice of weapon(s) are a special “collapsible” variant of a Chinese throwing stars. To avoid hurting people even criminals (except as a last result), once launched she can use the Shurikens to corral and trap her opponents.

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • The control “range” of objects linked to her mind is far more limited than her brother. Like him and item out of range remains linked and it takes time to break the connection in order to link with a new one.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • Robbery (Time served)
  • Theft (Time served)

Notes/History

Whilst growing up in the Smith household Gemma always felt she was in the shadow of her elder brother. As most of the Smith males across the generations had become relatively famous CLEA operatives it seemed to her that Paul was getting all their fathers attention as he was groomed for potential future greatness. This led her to working especially hard at school to even get noticed by her parents but despite top grades she still felt inferior.

Things seemed to change for the family her when Paul discovered he was an Alpha Superior. Gemma considered with his special abilities she would become even less noticed. However Paul opted to leave CLEA and become an Independent Hero and a rift set in between father and son. Finally she started to receive the attention she had wanted but by then she felt it was too little too late.

By the time Gemma left school and had started work, Paul was known around Pacifica as Discus and had received added media attention by becoming leader of the Phoenix Alliance. Things at home had got so bad that she had moved out and found a small but shabby apartment. She still felt the need to be on even terms with Paul and her wished seemed to be answered when she discovered she was also an Alpha Superior.

It was rare for a person to be and Alpha Inferior when the family had no previous lineage in this regards which was why neither her or Paul had ever been noticed despite the obvious signs that neither had ever been ill. What was even more rare was for two family members of the same generation to change status to become Alpha Superiors but the siblings did follow the general rule that same generation Alpha Superiors in the same family often gained similar abilities (apart from twins who usually had exactly the same abilities).

Whereas Paul could link himself to a singular object by “locking” on to it through a process of touch and concentration she could do the same with multiple objects, albeit Paul could keep “control” of an object over a longer distance whereas her ability to link with multiple objects worked over a greatly reduced range. Thinking at long last she would earn her recognition she located Paul and asked to join the Phoenix Alliance. He however was worried she might get hurt so decided to put her off by suggesting she was simply not good enough. Gemma considered this an insult and thought he was just trying to get rid of her so he could enjoy the admiration of others whilst denying her the same thing. Angry again at what she perceived as being made to look inferior she hatched a plan designed to embarrass him. She joined a local street gang.

Though prepared to get involved in criminal activities Gemma made the decision she was not going to use her special abilities whilst doing so. She only wanted to “hurt” Paul, not other people so that was the reason she never told the gang leader she was an Alpha Superior.
As predicted her ploy worked so Paul had her arrested by Pacifica Police Department officers that were his friends. Between them they agreed to hold her in a cell overnight to teach her a lesson but not process her as a felon. Being a Alpha Superior meant that if that happened she would receive harsh punishment and this was not Paul’s intention. He simply wanted to give Gemma a reality check of what would happen if she continued on her life of crime.

A rookie cop though noticed her in the cells and thought the paperwork had been missed and put her in the system along with the prisoners in the other holding cells.Once that happened there was nothing Paul or his friends could do and she was put before judge. Though only a petty criminal and having never used her Alpha abilities whilst roaming with the street gang the judge wanted to make an example of her and sentenced her to six years, a massively disproportionate sentence for the crimes committed.

After being transferred to a special prison for Alphas, Paul lodged an appeal but by this time Gemma refused to even talk to him. Paul kept on trying to get her sentence reduced despite the fact she would have nothing to do with him. Then after eighteen months had gone by the facility was attacked by Alpha Strike who were trying to free their own. Seeing an opportunity to evade another four and half years inside Gemma escaped in the ensuing confusion and became a wanted fugitive.

Angry at the world she flitted between various groups of Alpha criminals where she used her Alpha abilities to commit crime.  As she “linked” to bladed weapons she took the name Slicer. On occasions she even fought her brother and did not seem to be bothered if he got hurt. He had after all been the one to put her in prison so she felt that there was no need to treat him any different to anyone else that got in her way. In bid to stop her rampaging activities Paul quit the Phoenix Alliance so he could dedicate his time to apprehend her. Secretly he hoped to reason with Gemma as he knew if other more determined heroes or hot headed law enforcement officers went after her then she could get seriously hurt if not killed. Guilty at having her put in prison in the first place, the last thing Paul wanted was to see his sister come to serious harm, despite her flaws.

Paul would eventually catch up to her after she had joined up with Chaos. The group seemed to satisfy her need for revenge against the world better than the other criminals she had joined up with. Abyss, leader of the group did not really have a use for her as he really wanted someone to join them that could give Thunderchild some aerial support. Under “normal” circumstances Gemma would have been sent packing. However she begged them to at least give her a chance. Intrigued, Abyss allowed Gemma to perform a demonstration and whilst he found her means to control objects as merely “interesting” he did note she had exceptional acrobatic and balancing skills. This gave him an idea since the group had “acquired” an experimental hovering platform during a previous operation. It was designed to move in the direction the person leant but it remained at ground level any attempt to gain altitude and it became unstable and eventually threw its rider (not a desing flaw but the physics of hovercraft in general). Abyss figured if Gemma could link the hovercraft to her mind she would be able to use the disc to fly and Thunderchild would get her much needed “wingman.”

Gemma was handed the platform and ordered to stand on it and fly it around the warehouse that has Chaos’s temporary HQ whilst using her Alpha abilities. Providing she could do as Abyss had asked then he agreed to allow her to join them. Every attempt she made resulted in her falling off as it flipped over and after an hour Abyss lost his patience because she was using it “normally” which physics dictated would not allow to levitate more than a few centimeters without going unstable.Having worked out roughly how her alpha abilities worked he had expected her to “link” with the device not just try to get on it. Though he was completely insane Abyss was not without intellect. In a fit of anger he spelled out what he wanted her to do and Gemma complied.

This time after touching and holding the disc before standing on it the link was established. Now she gained instant mastery of the device and Thunderchild had gained an aerial ally. Abyss though wanted her to be completely fluid with both her flying and offensive skills so whilst the rest of the group went out on missions she had to stay behind and keep practising. This state of affairs continued for several weeks until Gemma finally mastered the unit. By this time she no longer needed the handles to hold and removed them altogether. The thrust needed normally for hovering she could now use for forwards momentum nd she learned to steer the unit in a similar fashion to a surfer. That meant she needed some proper foot holds since she did not fancy falling off at altitude and Abyss duly hand them fitted.

With everything ready she was then allowed to participate in her first mission. However she had not entirely earned Abyss’s trust so she was kept in the dark right until the last moment.  Only then was she informed that the intended target was an office block belonging to a corporation that supplied equipment to CLEA.

When the attack began and it quickly became apparent to Gemma that Abyss did not care whom got killed. In a moment of clarity she realised that despite her anger at the world this was not what she wanted and it had been a mistake in her joining Chaos.  Realising she did not want the blood of innocent people on her hands there was only one of two ways out of the situation.  Fleeing did not seem viable because she knew they would hunt her down and that only left trying to stop them which was equally suicidal.  Gemma quickly decided it was better to fight and do something that mattered than to act as a coward. Either way she figured she was dead so she went on the attack. One Alpha against six meant she stood little chance of succeeding but her interference did buy people enough time to evacuate the building before it was blown up.

Hot on the trail of his sister, Discus arrived just as Chaos completed their attack. His old friends the Phoenix Alliance also appeared ( got wind of an imminent attack on the building) but neither they or Paul could prevent the destruction of the office block. After a two hour search in the rubble rescue teams found Gemma but it was touch and go whether she would survive her injuries.

Gemma though surprised everyone and made a full recovery but on leaving hospital was immediately arrested on the grounds of her previous crimes and escaping prison. By now she had reconciled with her brother and was prepared to face the music. Paul hired the best lawyer to defend her and during the trial Paul and many of the Phoenix Alliance was brought in as character witnesses. The defence lay on the fact that had the first judge to have sentence her had given her the “appropriate” sentence for being a petty criminal she would not have been given a prison sententece of six years. Added to the argument was the testimony of others that had she not tried to stop Chaos then many innocent lives would have been lost.

The prosecution in turn countered with the fact that after she had escaped prison she had been involved in many crimes and made a point that during committing them, on several occasions her own brother had been forced to stop her. In summing up the judge acknowledge Gemma’s self-sacrifice but could not ignore the crimes she had committed since escaping. He also acknowledged the fact her original sentence had been inappropriate but stated that two wrongs did not make a right. Taking everything into account he decided to give her a two year suspended sentence and suggested she should perhaps to continue to use her amazing gifts to defend and protect people as she had done when she stood against Chaos.

Once things had settle down following the trial Gemma decided to take the judge’s suggestion to heart and asked Paul to sponsor her membership with the Guardian Alliance. Paul had been considering re-joining but had become involved in some “projects” that meant he had to operate alone. As the pair had very similar abilities it seemed the perfect compromise so after meeting with G-Wiz and Foresight, Gemma was accepted into the Alliance.

She then travelled over to Europa to start a new life at the Teams HQ and chose to ditch the name of Slicer as it was linked to her criminal past. Gemma elected to use a new codename, that of Stardisc. This was based on the fact she still flew the disc “donated” to her from Chaos and her chosen offensive weapons were Chinese throwing stars.

After staying with them for two years Gemma then found “work” as a lone hero in and around Europa but so the Alliance was never left short handed her and Paul agreed as reservists at any one time either one of them should be active on the team.
When using her abilities Gemma can throw singular stars at the same time and steer them accurately to a target or throw multiple stars at the same time (she normally carries 4) and control them like a swarm to surround or corral a fleeing target.

Stop Motion


CLEA DATA FILE

Identity:

  • Elizabeth MacAuley

CLEA Classification:

  • Alpha Superior

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Alpha ability – Gives her bursts of hyperspeed that last no more than a few seconds during which she can cover substantial ground. During her speed burst (estimated at over Mach 10+) her body behaves differently to normal physics meaning that she only retains her original forward momentum that she had before triggering the burst and any additional hyperspeed is cancelled out by her equally rapid deceleration.
  • Using her abilities like a teleporter she can attack opponents trigger a hyperspeed burst during which she alters her position and angle of attack and then attack again after deceleration.
  • Has knowledge of protocols for almost every law enforcement agency.

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • Repeated use of her Alpha ability drains her physically to the point her body instinctively stops her using it.
  • In she strikes another object whilst travelling at hyperspeed the shock wave can shatter her bones. Hitting an opponent would be like punching a brick wall and running into a locked door would kill her. Any slight mistake when making directional change such as going from level ground and climbing a ladder is also potentially lethal.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • Theft
  • Espionage
  • Infiltration

Notes/History

A one time White Guardian, Elizabeth turned against the agency when she received intelligence that the Protectorate was after her. Since she had mentioned that when she used her Alpha abilities eveything around her seemed to stop breifly the Protectorate believed she was able to manipulate time. She was therefore deemed too dangerous to remain “uncontrolled”. As the word regarding the Protectorate came from one of her reliable street sources she passed on what she had learned to her superiors.

When an Alpha Superior joined the White Guardians they were promised that no harm would come to their family or friends, a stipulation brought in during the Black Shadow “purge” so she assumed that having been a loyal CLEA officer the service would protect her.

However she was in for a shock for her superiors started quoting budget restrictions and felt unable to spare the staff to protect her. In truth on a leaked memo the general consensus was that an Alpha Superiors could look after themselves. This was in a time where the Protectorate were barely on CLEA’s radar and so her superiors downgraded the threat to her and in a further show of complete incompetence they did not organise the promised protection for her family.

Consequently Orion ambushed her one night at the family home and whilst she escaped her parents were not so lucky. Whilst naturally wanting revenge on Orion and the Protectorate, Elizabeth was even angrier at the pen pushers she had been loyal to that had done nothing. Her superiors did send her an official apology but she took that as an insult. Having worked for a system that she felt had betrayed her Elizabeth decided that perhaps it was time to teach them about loyalty and so left.

Whilst she considered joining the Night Shadow group that went after enemies of Alphas, she was so badly changed after losing everything that she decided to turn criminal. To Elizabeth since CLEA decided to save money on her then she was going to make everyone pay for their mistake. During her illegal activities she finally discovered that she was not stopping time but instead moving in hyperspeed bursts, giving the appearance of everything stopping briefly.

Offering her services out to those that wanted her unique talents had a further bonus for she knew all of CLEA’s protocols and more importantly those of other law enforcement agencies. Though she had turned criminal some of her old personality did remain so she would not take on work that would result in people knowingly getting seriously hurt or killed.

An Alpha with an incredible gift means that Elizabeth has evaded capture and proved an embarrassment for CLEA. When Chief Naylor heard about the events leading to her going rogue she immediately brought in new measures and a few department heads found themselves of the wrong side of her wrath. Consequently with new measures in place the likelihood of another White Guardian turning rogue was significantly reduced.

Substitute and Catalyst


CLEA DATA FILE

Team Identities:

  • Oliver Hughes – Substitute
    Nicholas Bailey – Catalyst

CLEA Classification:

  • Alpha Superior (Hughes)
  • Alpha Superior (Bailey)

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Alpha ability – Hughes has an unusual teleportation ability in that he can swap similar sized objects between two locations. He does not have to see where the objects but he has to remember where they are.
  • Alpha ability – Bailey has the means to change the material of any object providing it is not “living”. The change is only temporary the length of time depends on how extreme the difference is between the original and changed material. Similar materials remain changed for hours whilst very dissimilar materials will only keep the change from anything from a few seconds to a minute before reverting back.

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • Usually when Hughes uses his ability one of the objects he translocates is visible and on the occasions he does not remember correctly where a “hidden” item is an object, if close by will be translocated instead often with “interesting” results. If no object is close by nothing happens. For his ability to work both objects that are translocated have to be “free” (ie. not permanently affixed to another).
  • When Bailey attempts to perform extreme material changes the process often exhausts him and he cannot access his alpha ability for some time afterwards.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • N/A

Notes/History

Though at first these two heroes fought against the idea of becoming costumed adventurers once fate had chosen their eventual path they decided to thoroughly embrace the idea. Whilst they are generally known by their codenames they are also referred to as “The Comedians” for they “enjoy” having fun at their target’s expense.

Whilst Oliver Hughes (Substitute) and Nicholas Bailey (Catalyst) both grew up in Europa, they never met until their adult paths crossed. Coincidentally both were aware that they were Alpha Superiors in their teens but neither felt they were hero “material” so kept their special talents a secret.
Nicholas’s Alpha ability allowed him to change any material from one type to another, providing it was not “living” and was also in its “solid” form. The change was usually temporary but the effect could last from anything from a few minutes to a few hours depending on how close the materials were at the molecular level. Thus changing metal to plastic would only last a few minutes at most, changing copper to lead would last significantly longer. One downside of Nicholas’s ability was the more diverse he changed a material or the larger the object the more using his ability manifested itself in a physical toll on his body, draining him of energy. For that reason he found himself comfortable changing small objects, for fun usually in the times before he met Oliver.
By comparison, Oliver’s Alpha ability was a form of memory based teleportation. He could teleport an object from one place to another, swapping there places. Each object has to be of similar mass and size. Whilst he could not teleport something the size of a person he could “substitute” any object with another providing he “knew” the location of both. This often entailed remembering one object and being able to swap it with another he could actually see and he often used his skill when he forgot personal items and swapped something he had on his person with an item he had left elsewhere.

The pair met due to them both being stage actors and they became cast in the same play. Since they were not “big” actors neither lived solely off their income and so did part time jobs to get by. It was during a rehearsal that Oliver arrived back stage and happened across Nicholas fiddling with a coin whilst running over his lines. As Nicholas read the lines to himself Oliver noticed the coin was changing into different metals. Unaware he was being observed Nicholas continued to inadvertently keep changing the coin until Oliver accidentally let out a surprised laugh.
Obviously Nicholas was not happy that his secret was out and asked Oliver to keep it a secret, so Oliver went one better and showed him he was also “special”. Sharing something in common allowed a friendship to quickly develop over the run of the show. They both thought it was odd how fate had seemed to have brought them together and though they knew each other’s secret they chose to never reveal them in public. At least though they had someone who knew exactly what it was like to hide the fact they were Alpha Superior. From that moment in time they tended to find parts in the same plays but whether they wanted to keep the fact they were Alphas a secret, fate would intervene.

The incident which set them on the road as bonafide heroes occurred whilst they had roles in a play called “The Gods of Olympus”. Late one afternoon during a break in rehearsals Oliver remembered he needed to go to the bank to sort out a problem. Nicholas decided to tag along as he wanted a bite to eat. Though the pair were in their outfits they did not really attract much attention at the bank since it was only a few doors down from the theatre and actors still in their outfits was not an unusual sight, in and around the area, even if they were strangely medieval in appearance. It was whilst queuing that two armed robbers burst in. One had a shot gun and the other a pistol and both seemed quite unstable. The pair demanded everyone hit the floor and the customers who were scared out of their wits complied. Oliver looked at Nicholas and the other looked back and they seemed to decide they would not get involved. However when the robber armed with a pistol struck a women cashier who was going frantic and screaming Oliver decided he could no longer stand by. Standing up obviously attracted the attention of both robbers. The one with the pistol approached and went to strike him for not sitting down. However Oliver merely concentrated and remembered his bowl of fruit in the apartment. He pointed at the gun which immediately became a banana much to its owner’s surprise.
Releasing the other armed with a shotgun was also approaching, Oliver thought quickly and pointed at the gun and it became a French stick, the one that he had previously seen sticking out on the customer’s bag of groceries.

Since neither a banana nor French stick were viable weapons the pair quickly turned and fled. It was then that Nicholas decided he was going to use his gift in public for the first time. He followed the fleeing robbers outside and as soon as they go in their getaway car, Nicholas grabbed hold and transformed the aluminium body into lead. The car sunk onto its wheels and immediately became bogged down. By the time they forced open the doors the police had arrived.

Nicholas and Oliver both wanted to sneak away and avoid any further attention but the customers who had been in the bank immediately told the officers about the heroes. CCTV footage of the pair appeared in the papers the next day under the title “Who are these heroes?” and it did not take long for them to be hounded by the press. Oliver and Nicholas had no option but to reveal they were Alphas.

One oddity of going public became a problem for the theatre since the outfits they had been wearing were associated with the “heroes” and not the play. Replacements had to be made and since the theatre had no use for the old outfits, Oliver and Nicholas were given them as a memento of their heroic adventure. Sufficed to say, the play was a sell out. Their old style clothing though has led to some confusion and numerous conspiracy theories whereupon people think that the pair are immortals, truly ironic considering the play they participating in when they obtained their outfits.

Eventually public interest in the pair would wane as other heroes and villains captured the limelight. It was then that they decided to “officially” become heroes for the first time. As the theatre costumes had become ingrained in people’s minds from the CCTV footage, Nicholas and Oliver chose to wear them as their “hero outfits.”

For some time they worked together and eventually became reserve members of the Phoenix Alliance who nicknamed them the comedians.

Ten Men


CLEA DATA FILE

Identity:

  • Victor Ashmoore

CLEA Classification:

  • Drug Enhanced Human

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • The experimental “Marathon” drug gave Victor massively increased strength and resiliance (nearly ten times the average adult male) which he uses to pulverises his enemies.

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • What advantage Victor gains in strength is not matched by his intelligence so he can easily be duped by clever tactics.
  • As the Marathon drug is now a permanent part of his internal chemistry, the massive increases in adrenalin means he burns through energy at a terrific rate. The longer a fight continues the more tired Victor becomes and subsequently he slows down and becomes much easier to deal with.
  • He is a brawler so skilled fighters have a distinct advantage unless he connects with one of his fists.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • Assault
  • Assault and battery
  • Muscle for Hire
  • Extortion

Notes/History

If there was such an outlet in the street called “Rent-A-Thug” then that would be precisely where you would hire a person such as Victor Ashmoore. Brought up in a family environment where his mother was a drug addict and his father an alcoholic, Victor did not really have much chance of become a well-adjusted person ready to fit in with mainstream society.
All throughout growing up he was in and out of juvenile detention and bounced around care homes more times that what he could care to remember. Having always been well endowed when it came to physical build he often attracted trouble from his peers who wanted to test his strength and see if they could defeat him in a fight, which they could not and since Victor was not the sharpest knife in the draw he would often continue a fight long after a challenger had capitulated, hence the reason for continuously being sent to juvenile detention.

Whilst a career in sports might have been the solution when reaching adulthood that would have only been a result if he had a better upbringing so he was left to find jobs where physical prowess would work in his favour. A stable form of work was that of a night club security officer but where he made the most money was by taking part in illegal fight rings.
It was here he crossed paths with Danny “The Drill” Kendrick. The crime leader saw use in the big man since he had made many enemies as a crime boss and as the job appealed to Victor being lots of money and occasionally cracking a few skulls he took the position.

Like a loyal dog, Victor protected Kendrick and saw to it nobody could ever be in a position to get close enough to “hurt” his boss, not that Danny ever had problems taking care of business in that respect. However when Kendrick joined the new Black Shadow organisation the types of enemy Victor might have to deal with were far beyond that of the usual threat. Admittedly Victor could take down “ordinary” people but with Alphas to deal with then that was a whole new level of threat.

Ordinarily he would have dropped Victor and hired someone new that was more capable, particularly in the brains department, but Kendrick felt that Victor’s loyalty could not be dismissed so easily so he planned on giving his protector an “upgrade” that would give Victor the potential to take on anything.
Kendrick obtained, at considerable expense, an experimental from of the drug Marathon. Unlike the “normal” variety that saw punters coming back for more this variant was a one off hit that would create a permanent change. Since the drug would have the potential to instantly kill Victor, Kendrick warned him beforehand. The supplier suggested taking a small initial dosage but the thought of gaining power was too much temptation for Victor and he downed the entire lot.

The drug coursed through his body and Victor dropped to the floor screaming. In all their time together Kendrick had never heard the man so much as whimper so this was quite a shock. Against all odds Victor survived but when he awoke a week later he was completely changed. He now possessed greatly increased strength and resilience making him like a human armoured car. Since he could almost bench press ten times the weight of an ordinary man he earned the codename “Ten Men”.
However it was not all good news for his mind had become adversely affected. Victor was far more aggressive and short tempered than he had ever been. He would trigger at the vaguest of slights or insults and Kendrick was having problems keeping him under control. When the other members of Black Shadow started to view Victor as a liability, Kendrick was pressured into releasing Victor from their employment. To say he was not pleased at being dumped was an understatement but though he hated the other members of Black Shadow he chose not to take his anger out on Danny who he still respected.

From then on Victor went out into the world and became muscle for hire. Since he felt insulted by Black Shadow, he frequently aligns himself with rival crime gangs but will accept any work if it means he can release the constant aggression that plagues his mind.

Save

Thunderhead

Left to right: Mokri, Davies, Goto, King, Cao and Allen

Left to right: Mokri, Davies, Goto, King, Cao and Allen

Thunderhead is the team that specialises in heavy attack.Their purpose is to breach criminal strongholds when a stealth approach is not needed or the “enemy” has access to heavy weaponary. Equipped with vehicles able to perform the task the team can also be called upon to serve in a support role, backing up the other head teams

CLEA DATA FILE

Primary Role:

  • Ground Attack/Support where speed is less of a requirement than firepower and protection.

Mission Types:

  • Extraction under fire
  • Interdiction
  • Demolition
  • Rescue
  • Support
  • Strike

Team Identities:

  • Jonathon “Big Jon” Davies – Team Commander
  • Dariush Mokri
  • Theodore King
  • Haruki Goto
  • Lian Cao
  • Cheyanna Allen

CLEA Classification:

  • Specialist Combatant (Entire Team)

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Combat veterans (Davies, Mokri King and Goto)
  • Firearms trained (all)
  • Martial arts trained (Cao and Allen)
  • Their vehicles are the most powerful in CLEA’s arsenal.

Tactical Weakness(s):

  • Due to the vehicles the team is slow to mobilise giving the “enemy” plenty of time to prepare.
  • None stealthy.

Notes/History

When chief Naylor came to set up “Thunderhead” she had in mind a unit that could save civilians lives when a known area was suspected to be using far more heavy weaponry than Spearhead could deal with. During her time in her position she had seen reports that criminals were finding ways of getting their hands on military grade hardware up to and including transport the size of boats and submarines.
Spearhead’s main missions were to get in fast and do their job before the criminals were aware of what was happening. By giving that team access to fast attack vehicles they relied more on speed and surprise to succeed. She envisaged the team could deal with weapon threats equal to the their own but she had concerns for criminals that got their hands on something bigger.
She knew that eventually CLEA might have to face down heavily armoured vehicles. Such criminals used strength and power to get their work done. Civilians were used less as hostages and more as pawns, collateral damage to keep security forces busy whilst they carried out their plan.
Naylor therefore wanted a team that could go toe-to-toe a take on such a threat head on. This would become “Thunderhead”.

With most of the other “head” teams Naylor had her people scour hundreds of personnel files before making a choice for a team leader and left the assembling of the team to that one person. In the case of Thunderhead she never thought in her mind that an actual team would present itself to her in the form of Jon Davies and Theo King.

Within weeks of the word getting out that CLEA was looking to set up a Heavy vehicle team, the pair had found their way to Atlantica city and camped outside CLEA’s offices. Both men were retired from their respective armed services and had met via the War Dog Association, a word wide organisation that allowed for retired servicemen and women to meet.
Over a period of years via various functions Jon and Theo had formed a strong friendship with four other men, Dariush Mokri, Haruki Goto, Michael Windsor and Alfredo Pisani. Though none had served in the same armed services they had all served in their countries’ armoured divisions. Some have even fought alongside each other via UN peacekeeping campaigns.
The main thing they had all found they had in common was that retirement life did not suit them. They were soldiers without a war. Jon was in his late fifties and missed the action so when he learned of the CLEA team being set up he had a crazy idea, hence this was how he and Theo came to be outside CLEA HQ in Atlantica.

Naylor who happened to be at the HQ at the time, a rarity decided to meet with the pair rather than hand them to someone lower. She felt they at least deserved some respect. Though both of them admitted they were passed their pique they stated what they had in return was experience. Naylor though had been hoping to look at younger team but since she was only slightly older than Jon she considered what it would feel like to be unemployed simply because of age.
During discussions she suggested perhaps they could serve CLEA in a training role but that they politely declined that offer. Flying a desk was not for them. To this day she did not know if she was simply feeling sorry or being sympathetic but by the end of the meeting she had struck a deal and that was they and their “friends” could form the team, as it was going to be a six man group but only if they could pass the CLEA physical training that all the other “head” teams had gone through. Whilst not the highest scores in the physical training, Jon, Theo, Dariush and Haruki, Michael and Alfredo did actually pass and “Thunderhead” became an official unit.

When it came to a choice of vehicle a pair of the latest APCs were given to Thunderhead. Fitted with a powerful roof mounted canon and machine gun cluster, the CLEA advisors suggested that it was the ideal all round weapon. Jon, recognised as the team leader though felt the APC’s would not be able to deal with the types of opposition the team was supposed to face. He suggested a tank and APC, which Naylor thought was something of a joke idea.

Four successful missions in though and Jon’s fears became a reality when the weapons expert known as Mechaniac hijacked the opening ceremony of the Wyvern Tower. The villain liked to test his weaponry to show it off to his buyers so when his latest robots invaded the ceremony and surrounding streets he knew that sooner or later military action would be taken to free the hostages, which included many foreign dignitaries.

Having learned from what happened with the Greenhand incident in Arizona, Naylor tried to persuade the American Government to allow her Thunderhead team to deploy as CLEA had some experience in dealing with Mechaniac. The government declined as being on television they felt they had to show the world they could deal with a terrorist threat.
In almost a carbon copy of the Arizona incident a special forces team were sent in and Mechaniac got what he wanted, real soldiers to test his hardware. In a matter of minutes it was a bloodbath and around the tower resembled a warzone.
Camera footage showed two teams being slaughtered by the Mechaniac’s machines. Of the sixteen people that attempted to make it to the tower two made it to cover about halfway between the plaza perimeter and the building.
The robots seemed to ignore them although knowing the Mechaniac’s mentality, Naylor presumed they were being used as bait. The American military started to mobilise but the chief suspected what might happen and had already got Thunderhead in the air and on its way.

CLEA team would get their ahead of the military units being detached so finally Naylor got permission to deploy. Upon landing at an airfield in the centre of Pacifica, Jon, Theo and Dariush mounted one vehicle whilst Haruki, Michael and Alfredo got in the other. The small convoy then headed towards the Wyvern tower along a route cleared by police.

Weapons hot they entered the plaza and the robots advanced. The roof cannons took out several before the robots altered their stategy and decided to target one vehicle at a time. Haruki was the lead unit and Jon watched in horror as the concentrated fire tore through the APC and it exploded in a column of flame. Just as he suspected the armour on such vehicles would never be strong enough for a frontal assault but there was no time to grieve for they were close to the tower.

Making his way around the wreck he smashed into the foyer and spun it around. Now with a makeshift bunker around his vehicle he opened fire at the mechanical army.

One cannon was never going to be enough but it would have to do. Dariush did his best whilst Theo left the safety of the vehicle to set up an assault gun. Whilst this was happening the two female special forces officers that had survived the slaughter used the distraction to make it to the burning APC. The robots had moved past that vehicle as the concentrated their efforts on the remaining operation unit. After reaching the APC the two women pulled Haruki and Alfredo out of the wreck, before running around to release the locks on the roof cannon.

Though the vehicle was on its side the cannon still had some elevation and rotational controls. By manually operating the cannon the robots were caught in a cross fire. Jon saw the incoming fire and launched his APC towards the metal combatants felling one down before the AI’s could alter the strategy. The women brought down another hitting it from behind, before the last one exploded inexplicably.

Naylor expected this as the Mechaniac never wanted his “toys” to be examined.
The threat over, the “hostages” were able to leave the Tower and Jon could assess the disaster after meeting the two women, Cheyanna Allen and Lian Cao who had provided the necessary break he needed to steal victory from defeat.

Though they had pulled Alfredo out of the wreck he was dead, along with Michael who had been trapped inside, making Haruki the only survivor. To add insult to injury, during the clean-up operations CLEA intel learned the Mechaniac had never been at Wyvern Tower during the siege but instead had left shortly before it had begun. CLEA and the Special Forces teams had proved he still had work to do but a successful “weapons test” had enabled him to sell several of his prototype units.

Having only been an operational unit for a very short time the loss of two members was a serious affair and the other CLEA chiefs suggested suspending Thunderhead operations until the enquiry was over which took four months.

After accepting that the team had done everything by the book no reprimands were deemed necessary. As per Jon’s initial request the APC was not replaced with another one but instead Thor MBT. Before going operational though the only job left was to replace their fallen friends.

When the news went out two “unexpected” people showed up in the resume pile, namely Cheyanna Allen and Lian Cao. Just as Naylor had brought him and Theo in when they had applied for the job, Jon felt the two women deserved to be heard.

Already they had shown incredible bravery and combat skills so he did not doubt their commitment. What he was unsure about was why they would choose to leave an otherwise excellent careers to join a bunch of “dinosaurs”. Then when they explained themselves he knew why.

After returning to their unit’s CO they wanted another crack at the Mechaniac but that was not possible since the villain had already fled America. They had lost practically all their friends and it had been seemingly for nothing so they only chance they would get to go after the murderer was by joining CLEA.
Though Jon had originally been going to hire another pair of veterans he would not deny the women the chance of some payback. That much he felt he owed them.  Cheyanna and Lian accepted the job offer even though Jon had made it quite clear he did not know when, or even if Thunderhead would come across the Mechaniac again.

Oceanic


CLEA DATA FILE

Identity:

  • Nina Dupont (Previous code name “Torrent”)

Group Association

CLEA Classification:

  • Alpha Superior

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Alpha ability – mastery over the oceans, allows her to manipulate large volumes of water.
  • Alpha ability – can absorb water through her body and expel it through her hands and feet, creating hydrojets. She can use this to launch herself into a jump or to swim underwater and on the surface at high speed.

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • Sensitive to heat and extreme cold.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • N/A

Notes/History

Nina Dupont always considered herself “average”. Whilst at school she was never at the top of her class but she was neither at the bottom of the class. Looking back on her early years, she found it ironic that neither she nor her parents noticed she was unusual in the sense she never got ill. Her parents thought they were just “lucky” without realising she was an Alpha Inferior. Even her doctor missed the usual indicators (including the diamond shaped birth mark), which was why she still received inoculation jabs despite not actually needing them.

Upon leaving school, she found work as a secretary and flitted around several companies in similar admin roles before joining a legal firm in the financial district of Europa and her career never progressed from there. Never one to be ambitious the work suited her and she was quite content with her lot in life. Then came her twenty seventh year and everything changed.

It was the summer time that she suddenly developed an itchy rash and sensitivity to sunlight. For someone who had never been ill that was quite an alarming situation for her. Though she knew she should go to the doctors they were busy at the law firm. In her line of work she was easily replaced so rather than risk finding out she might need to go on the sick, Nina decided to muscle through her illness. That tactic seemed to work for a few weeks later everything returned to normal.

Another two months would pass and she started to forget about her mystery “illness” unaware that she was now an Alpha Superior and it only needed one unexpected surge in adrenalin to trigger her special ability. With a fairly dull life outside of work the trigger might have taken some time since she did not engage in sports. Then one night she crossed a quiet street on the way home and was not paying attention to the traffic. She rarely saw any in that location so when a car horn suddenly snapped her out of a daydream it was enough to trigger her Alpha ability for the first time and activate it.

Crossing quickly to the other side, she looked at the car that has come close to hitting her, and its driver wildly gesticulating obscenities in her direction. Once it roared off she became aware of a trail of water behind her that started in the middle of the road. Tracing it backwards the trail ended up at her feet which she thought was odd since it was not raining and she had not stood in a puddle. Then she looked at her hand and discovered she could see straight through it. Instantly she started to panic and when she did her clothes seemed to fall straight through her body. Looking down her entire body seemed to be almost transparent, and when she caught sight of her reflection in a window, Nina realised every part of her had transformed to become the same.

She continued to panic for a few moments but once she started to try and think rationally and calm down her body returned to normal, albeit she was now naked since her clothes were on the pavement. Luckily for her it was a quiet road so she got dressed, hoping that nobody had seen her. Then she ran to her apartment as fast as her legs could carry her. Once safe in doors it was then that Nina tried to understand what was happening to her by trying to recreate the same feeling she had felt whilst in the street. She already guessed she was an Alpha Superior although she did not quite believe it but it seemed the only rational explanation. Concentrating on the time the car had nearly hit her, Nina once more transformed.

Over a few weeks she began experimenting and learned each time she changed form her body became comprised of water. At first she could not pick up objects but in time learned how to vary the cohesion of her body so she could be solid enough to pick up objects or liquid enough to turn into a pool. Despite something of a novelty she decided her life was already complicated enough without becoming “one of those heroes”.

However like so many reluctant heroes that tried to escape their destiny, fate would intervene and the event that changed her mind was one night on her commute she witnessed a group of men mugging an elderly woman. No doubt she would have become another victim if she had not been an Alpha Superior but watching the gang attacking a helpless individual made her angry. Choosing to act rather than think, she transformed into her water form and her very appearance caused the gang to flee without their prize.

From then on she decided she would use her gift to keep her neighbourhood in Europa free of criminal scum. This was about the first time in her entire life she had ever done anything “exciting” and she started to like it. Nina became the hero known as “Torrent”.

However her gift had a drawback in that she was always completely naked. That certainly had the effect of distracting criminals but she always felt embarrassed despite the fact nobody could properly identify her.
This would eventually change when the Knight’s Forge discovered her after noticing her “work.” The Forge felt that since she had showed a selfless desire to help her community, then Nina should at least keep her dignity. To that end the scientists came up with an outfit with molecules that could lose their cohesion like her, thus allowing her to remain “clothed” in both forms. Upon receiving the gift the Forge suggested she was perhaps not using her abilities to the full which might leave her with an exploitable weakness an enemy could use. They also suggested she perhaps work with one of the hero groups since lone heroes were often the most vulnerable. Nina decided against that idea since the teams she had heard of all seemed to spend most of their time flitting around the globe and she wanted to remain in Europa.

She did however take the advice of testing her ability to the maximum and in doing this she learned she could add “water” to her alternate form to grow larger, could “swim” down pipes and vary the cohesion of parts of her body so stabbing weapons would harmlessly pass through her.

Over time her countless battles with criminals and other Alphas would lead to an unforeseen variant of “burnout”. Typically overusing Alpha abilities can lead to the body entering a coma like state and/or losing the means to use such abilities for long periods in time. In Nina’s case she started to lose cohesion in her water state. This was leading to the very real possibility that if she continued to use her abilities she would literally drift apart and die. For a while she tried to be careful but whatever had triggered the degradation started to affect her “human” form.

After seeking help from various sources the Brainbox of the Think Tank came up with an experimental procedure involving gene resequencing via a radioactive isotope to stabilise her condition. Since Alphas were immune to illness, Brainbox expected that her body could repair any internal damage. However the statistics did not look good,  with a 90% chance the procedure would not work altogether. Brainbox also warned her that the procedure if successful might even return her to an Alpha Inferior status. There was even a slight chance it could kill her. Despite the warnings she wanted to try.

The procedure appeared to work. Her “human” condition stopped deteriorating but at the cost of her ability to transform into water. However she discovered that the procedure had left her with the means to still control water and breathe in it. Unlike before when she could gain mass by adding water to her own form, Nina soon learned that she could now command vast quantities of water. She still retained some ability to absorb water into her body but cannot retain it, so it is expelled through her hands and feet creating “hydrojets”. The Knight’s Forge then came up with a new costume design to cater for her new abilities.

For a while she retained her old code name of Torrent before switching it to a more appropriate Oceanic.

Whilst on holiday in Australia, Nina decided to try and test her endurance and stumbled on the private island belonging to Lance Mickelson.

(See Narwhal for full story)

After becoming romantically involved, he and Nina decided to create the Harmony Island Beach Resort, a private holiday area where heroes could take a break from their public duties.

Save

Toxic


CLEA DATA FILE

Identity:

  • Jacy Cordero

CLEA Classification:

  • Alpha Superior

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Alpha ability – allows his skin to emit chemicals which are highly toxic to ordinary people. The effect is similar to insect/snake venom etc and he seems able to the toxicity according to his needs. He can thus choose to do anything from stunning a to causing internal organ failure.
  • Alpha ability – Cordero can expel the same venom from his lungs to produce a deadly cloud of vapour to anyone close by.

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • Cordero can continue to use his Alpha abilites far longer than other Alphas, making him difficult to deal with. However anyone wearing suitable protective equipment such as NBC suits nullify his advantage.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • Assault and battery
  • Aggravated Assault
  • Muscle for hire
  • Enforcer
  • Body guard
  • Mercenary

Notes/History

As an Alpha criminal, Jacy is employed specifically in the roles of either an enforcer or a bodyguard. Linked over the years to several crime bosses, if they want to get their message home then Jacy is perfect for the job. Able to disable and even kill by simply breathing or touching a person can make him extremely intimidating. He therefore is quite useful for extracting information as well as preventing people getting too close to the boss. Perhaps his major weakenss is that his Alpha abilites only work in close quarters.

Save

Trapper


CLEA DATA FILE

Identity:

  • Xander Sallis

CLEA Classification:

  • Alpha Superior

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Alpha ability – Xander has the means to eject a glue-like substance from his hands which cures upon impact. He can thus literally “stick” someone to the floor or bind their arms/legs with his adhesive preventing them from fighting back or escaping.
    By touching the hardened glue again Xander can absorb it back into his body if he so chooses thus releasing his captive.
  • Has learned basic unarmed combat skills.

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • His glue can be cut away with sharp implements or melted with weak acid.
  • Weak against opponents such as meltdown whose primary “weapon” is corrosive in nature.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • N/A

Notes/History

Xander Sallis started life as an experiment. His mother Kerri Sallis worked at a private lab outside Pacifica as a geneticist and like many in her field she was interested in how Alphas were immune to almost all type of illness. This was during the period that Black Shadow was carrying out its purge which had seen many Alphas killed or going into hiding. In such times a private facility having access to biological samples of Alphas was considered a rarity, and this was the only reason why Kerri and her team had been able to continue their research when rival labs had been forced to abandon similar projects.

However the team to one major problem, the more they studied the samples the more they degraded. Her team knew without any fresh samples it was only a matter of time before their work would grind to a halt and they would have to concede defeat. Kerri was obsessed with her research and could not allow that to happen so she made the radical decision to make her own “samples”.

Working with her team she implanted genetic material in several of her embryos. Most of the experiments failed but one took and so she had the egg placed in her womb and took the baby to full term and successfully gave birth to a healthy baby boy she named Xander.

Due to the fact what Kerri had done was technically illegal she and her team agreed to keep the nature of Xander’s existence a secret. To avoid people asking too many tricky questions outside of the lab the team decided to raise Xander in the facility. Though to many this might have been considered a form of imprisonment, Xander did not know anything different and accepted his “unusual” upbringing as being perfectly normal. He knew Kerri as his mother but neither of them knew who the father was since the egg had been fertilised from donated sperm.

Though he was kept hidden from the outside world he was aware of what was happening as he was not stopped from watching TV or using the internet. In fact his only limitation was being never to experience what he saw directly. As what she was doing was denying him a normal life Kerri informed him from an early age that he was “special” and might one day be a responsible for changing the lives of ordinary people and there might be people outside the facility that “would not understand and might want to harm him.” He accepted what he had been told as he had no reasons to suspect his mother was stating anything but the truth.

Without the usual life distractions (apart from frequent “test” sessions) whilst growing up Xander had little left to occupy him other than study. Naturally he chose to learn the same field as his mother and by the time he was sixteen he was quite an accomplished geneticist in his own right.
It was around this time that Kerri told him she wanted to try a series of experiments to try and artificially trigger the change from Alpha Inferior to Alpha Superior. Kerri and her team knew this was another important area of study so she did not see the harm in capitalising by having an Alpha test subject and so they began a second line of research.

Despite the fact they were no closer to solving the original problem of isolating the genes that gave Alpha’s immunity, Kerri, her team and Xander were all convinced that the answers they were seeking was just out of their grasp.

However another ten years would pass before they “solved” the problem of artificially jump starting an Alpha’s transition from Inferior to Superior status. During this time Zodiac defeated Black Shadow and Alphas came out of hiding. Unlike before very few choosing to volunteer for scientific research which meant as Kerri’s team were the only ones that had been able to continue with unbroken studies then they were theoretically the world leaders (except for ARGO which was equally as advanced in studies only they went about their research through criminal means).

Like most great research breakthroughs then team actually stumbled on a way of triggering Xander’s status change by accident. One of their many failed experiments produced an unexpected anomaly and from this the team were able to extrapolate data which led to a new theory. The result of this was yet another experiment but this time it was a success and thought it involved a painful few minutes for Xander, as opposed to a gentler “natural” change which took a few weeks, the end result was he became the first Alpha Superior to become artificially “activated”.

As with every other Alpha Superior the nature of his gifts were still random. In his case he was able to eject sticky resin like substance from his hand and whilst it was fascinating for the team to perform a few experiments on his ability it was only a distraction for they still had work left in solving the “immunity gene” problem. After approaching her bosses Kerri wanted to go public with the knowledge that she had found a way to trigger a status change. She believed the revelation would bring valuable funding and kudos for the lab and her team.

However before the press conference was arranged the Protectorate learned of her successful experiment. Fearing that Kerri had created a process that could build an army of Alpha Superiors if it fell into the wrong hands, the Protectorate decided to intervene. The information could not be revealed to the world if the human race was to be kept safe.

Orion was thus ordered to destroy the facility and all research and leave nothing. This they did but Xander escaped. During the attack Kerri realised that the “soldiers” were going to eradicate everything and as with any good mother she sacrificed herself so Xander could get free. Now, alone on the streets of Pacifica, he did not know what to do other than wander. Having failed to captured or kill him, Xander knew that the people that had killed his mother might still be after him so all he could do was keep moving but after three days without food he was at near exhaustion. Luckily for him Orion was not the only one looking for Xander for the Night Rangers were also searching for the escapee. Aware of the attack as they had been monitoring Orion for some time (in their ongoing “war” against the Protectorate) the Alpha group had almost the same intel as their enemies. Thus they were aware of Kerri’s research and her son.

Saved by the Night Rangers, after he had learned about them and their work they asked him to join their cause. They believed Xander would want revenge but had no counted on the fact he knew nothing of the “real” world. This was a blow for the team and whilst they wanted to help Xander none of them believed they had the means to teach him what he would need to know to survive.

Knowing a great deal about other hero teams and their backgrounds Mind Storm (Shane Wright) arranged for Xander to meet Team Zodiac. Shane was aware that the Gemini Twins had also been brought up in isolation and felt that they might be the only people to understand what Xander was going through. Andrew McCabe agreed to help (despite the fact he was not keen on the way the Night Rangers conducted their “business”).

Temporarily joining Team Zodiac, the twins did manage to help Xander and introduce him to all the things he had never experienced outside the lab. The rest of the team also helped him to come to terms with the great loss he had experienced. During the time with the group he was also made aware of how member of the team had been affected by Black Shadow and when he coupled this with the knowledge of how members of the Night Rangers had been affected by the Protectorate he learned of the different ways both groups coped with their anger towards those that had wronged them. The Night Rangers wanted revenge whilst Zodiac had progressed beyond that need and decided to use their “gifts” to fight all wrongdoers and he liked their philosophy more.

Having gained experience of what the world was like outside of TV and computers he wanted very much to use his Alpha ability to become like the people of team Zodiac and the other costumed adventurers he had heard about. However he felt before that could happen he still had a lot to learn and the only way he could do that was by continuing on his path alone. He therefore took his leave from Zodiac and headed out onto the streets of Atlantica to start anew but before he went McCabe arranged to send him a modest allowance.

A couple of years later and now with a much better understanding of things in general Xander returned to Pacifica and once there he decided to fulfil his goal of becoming a costumed crime fighter. He took the name Trapper and began using his Alpha abilities to literally stop criminals in their tracks and leave them helpless for the police to pick up.

As his reputation grew he caught the attention of the Phoenix Alliance and they eventually invited him to become one of the reservist members that operated outside of Europa. Having achieved their recognition he accepted the offer. As well as helping them out, Xander also chooses to assist Zodiac when a situation calls for his “skills”. Ever since he stayed with the team and they made him part of their “family” he feels a strong loyalty to the group despite his choice of leaving.

Trident


CLEA DATA FILE

Team Identities:

  • Tanya Eltsina – Hornet (team leader)
  • Rachel Davis – Gecko
  • Yin Bao Chou – Hijack

CLEA Classification:

  • Alpha human (Eltsina)
  • Alpha human (Davis)
  • Alpha human (Chou)

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Alpha ability – Tanya has the means to fly/levitate and she can also generate small bolts of electric “stings”.
  • Alpha ability – Rachel has the ability to crawl up walls due to a sticky substance excreted from her hands and feet. Her current outfit has gloves and boots made of a porous material that permits her adhesive secretions to still work unhindered.
  • Alpha abiltiy – Chou, has the ability to transfer her consciousness into other people and assume full control (putting the original host’s mind in a state of animated suspension).

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • In order to fly Tanya has to wear lightweight clothing so it susceptible to physical/weapon attack.
  • Rachel can be completely neutralised by covering her hands and feet in any non-porous material.
  • Whilst Chou’s mind occupies another body, her own body becomes catatonic and has to be kept alive artificiality by her suit. If her suit is damaged when she is away from her body she is at serious risk. In a worse case scenario her mind could return to her “dead” body and then she would be killed outright.
  • Strong willed people can prevent Chou taking control of their bodies.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • Theft (Davis)
  • Robbery (Chou albeit indirectly using another person’s body)

Notes/History

Unaware of the fact she was an Alpha Inferior, Tanya (later creator of Trident) enjoyed a pretty ordinary childhood. Her Alpha abilities had not even activated by the time she left school and so like every other person she went out to find an “ordinary” job.

The problem for Tanya was that no matter what job she took, she found the work unsatisfying. Kind of heart and having a desire to help people less fortunate than herself, she was constantly dogged by a need to help her local community. Charity work was one outlet for her “passion” but she still wanted to do more. That became possible when she inherited a substantial sum of money.

Rather than wasting it frivolously she chose to use the money to set up a business that would achieve her goal to do good things for those around her. She set up her own detective agency. Unlike other companies that did the same, she did not charge exorbitant rates to those that were desperate and since she was not interested in getting involved in family politics her agency was not going to involve itself in following unfaithful spouses. Instead her agency specialised in locating missing persons.

With more money in the bank she needed, she, technically did not need to work as she could live of her personal wealth. For that reason she only charged a modest “token” fee, so that at least her clients felt as though they were paying her for something. Aware that most people, even those with little money could still be proud meant that her “fee” would prevent them feeling they were “charity cases.”

In one sense it was a good job she was not expecting to live on the agency fees because work was relatively slow but what little there was she found rewarding. Then when Tanya’s Alpha Abilities activated she realised there was a whole new opportunity to do more for her community so she decided to be a detective by day and a costumed “hero” by night. She took the alias “Hornet” as she could fly and discharge electrical stings. Never taking on more than she could handle meant she focused her activities on petty criminals. Though she had heard of other “groups” Tanya never dreamed that she would ever be more than a lone hero until Terence Davis arrived one day and asked her to find his daughter, Rachel. There was however a problem with the request for the Davis family ran a small crime empire stealing vehicles, the very same sort of scum who she tried to put a stop to as the “Hornet”.
Despite the fact she wanted to refuse to help, that was not who she was during the day. She therefore decided to listen to his story if only to gain intel she could use as the Hornet.

He explained that his “business” was initially a father and son set up but when Rachel discovered the she was an Alpha Superior she had followed their example and used her gifts for petty burglary. The problem for the family came when the Wolfgang Schmitt aka “The Baron” wanted the Davis’s out from his territory so had been putting pressure on them often by violent means. In order to protect her father, Rachel had gone to the Baron’s home to find some incriminating evidence. She had planned the family could use this to threaten the Baron by gaining leverage by hinting such info might accidentally find its way to law enforcement agencies. After leaving that night she had never returned and Terence presumed the crime boss had her.

What actually happened on that night was the plan had failed early on because Rachel was caught before finding anything useful. Luckily for Rachel the Baron did not recognise her and assumed she worked for one of his rivals and as she would not talk he had made plans to make his prisoner see sense.

Despite Terence’s heart felt plea and honesty about the family’s illegal activities, Tanya made it quite clear she was not going to find it “difficult” to work for someone that caused “trouble” for law abiding folks in her community. Such was Terence’s fear for Rachel that he offered a proposal and that was he and his son would turn themselves over to the police if she found Rachel. However as Terence believed Rachel had only gone into crime due to being set a bad example he wanted one other favour and that was for Tanya to keep Rachel out of any investigation and rehabilitate his daughter into the person he had wanted her to become and not the burglar that had tried to emulate her father and her brother. The one thing he left out of their conversation was that Rachel was only a good burglar because she was an Alpha Superior with the ability to cling to any surface. Terence considered it would be best not to cloud the waters with that fact.

It was a difficult compromise to accept but Tanya agreed on the grounds that if Rachel showed no signs of mending her ways then Terence would find his daughter serving time as well. Having an idea where Rachel was, as the Hornet she went to find Rachel and rescued just in the nick of time as the Baron had called in the Interrogator to extract information from the captive that had broken into his home. As per the agreement Terence and Rachel’s brother turned themselves in.

Though the police were surprised at the pair showing up and admitting their crimes, the files hinted that Rachel might be involved so during the follow up investigations they tracked her down and found her at Tanya’s apartment. Since Rachel was not in, Tanya decided she would talk to the detectives and was amazed to find herself giving the would-be burglar a second chance by honouring the deal she had made with Terence. Though not normally good at bluffing she was able to convince the detectives that Rachel was clean.

With no home to go to, Rachel had been staying at Tanya’s apartment, fulfilling the second part of Terence’s deal to look after his daughter. As part of the rehabilitation process she even gave Rachel a job in the detective agency but the female Davis harboured a grudge for the person that had made the rest of her family go to jail. She knew Tanya was trying to help her but could not shake the hostility until she visited her father in prison. He then explained it was his idea to turn himself in and he had chosen to do it to stop her getting dragged down into a life of crime as he had been. Terence also persuaded Rachel to show more respect for Tanya. After that, the relationship improved between the two women markedly but Tanya would not risk telling Rachel about her other identity as the Hornet. This was ironic as Rachel felt unable to trust Tanya with the fact she was an Alpha Superior.
It was some six months later that the truth came out. As the friendship between them had blossomed Rachel had started to notice certain oddities regarding Tanya’s movements. Having been a burglar it was very hard for her to ignore the fact that Tanya vanishing at all hours of the night and acting like nothing was happening upon return. Though she found it hard to believe Tanya was a burglar the suspicious activity was not helping her reach any other conclusion. Rachel therefore decided if she was not going to get any straight answers she would take matters into her own hands so one night she put on her old cat burgling gear and decided to covertly follow her friends.

Since the apartment was occupied Tanya had been forced to go to the office to change “identities”. Able to climb up wall with ease due to her Alpha abilities Tanya was unaware that as she was getting changed into her Hornet gear she was being observed from outside. Once she had changed into her alter ego, the Hornet opened the window and flew outside, nearly knocking Rachel off the side of the building. Realising she had bumped into something but was not sure what Tanya turned back and her eyes met with Rachel. Both their secrets were out and at long last Tanya understood why Rachel had been such a good burglar.

Since the Hornet’s activities for the night had come to an abrupt end the pair decided to return to the office and talk. After explaining her reasons for becoming the Hornet, Tanya just thought things would carry on as “normal”. Rachel though wanted in on the idea, suggesting that since she had reformed her unique abilities that made her a good burglar could be put to a better use. Despite Tanya’s best efforts to persuade Rachel otherwise it became obvious the ex-thief was not going to take no for an answer. From this conversation Rachel’s alter ego, the “Gecko” was born.

For two years they worked together until a friend of Yin Bao Chou asked the detective agency to find the missing woman. By the time Hornet and Gecko had tracked Yin down they had realised the person they had been working for had been an Independent Alpha (Merlin) and the person they had been asked to find was another Independent Alpha. Far from an average case, to add another spanner to the works the pair eventually discovered that Yin had been kidnapped. (Later revealed to be ARGO).

Following leads of where Yin had last been “active”, the pair was able to locate where Yin was being held but arrived to find Team Zodiac cleaning out the temporary ARGO lab. They had rescued Yin and since Tanya had no idea what the hell was going on she asked “Leo”, Zodiac’s leader. He recognised the Hornet by reputation, and he regarded her asa potential ally in the fight against crime he told her all about ARGO.

Tanya then went to talk to Yin and explain Merlin had sent her. During the conversation Yin divulged the nature of her Alpha abilities and her codename of Hijack. Yin admitted she had tried to work alone as a crime fighter and that had obviously made her an easy target for ARGO. This got Tanya to thinking that another addition to Gecko could prove most useful but not wishing to step on anyone’s toes felt obliged to ask Leo if Zodiac was hiring. He told her plainly they were not as any more people would affect the established group dynamics.

As Zodiac had been aware of the work of Hornet and Gecko he did not see a problem if Tanya asked to recruit Hijack a make the duo a trio. Though Yin has been though a lot and admitted she was now quite aware how dangerous solo work was, she was not quite sure about considering Hornet’s offer. In fact Yin was not sure is she should quit the crime fighting work altogether. Instead of forcing the issue Tanya told her to think about the offer and at the same time slipped one of her business cards into Yin’s outfit before leaving with Gecko.

Some days later when she got over the emotional overload from the shock of her ordeal, Yin decided she was not going to let ARGO beat her and decided she would continue to fight crime with her special gift. Checking over her outfit, she found the business card and it did not take a genius to work out where it had come from. Remembering the Hornet’s suggestion and considering mutual protection might be a good thing she decided to visit the address on the card and see if the offer still stood.

She noticed Rachel first and initial observations indicated the woman’s shape and build did not match the “Hornet” so she was not sure she had come to the right place. Never one to beat around the bush, Yin simply asked to speak to the name of the person printed on the card. Rachel pretended not to recognise Yin because experience as a costumed hero meant she had learned not to assume people knew was the Gecko. Since Yin had not met her as “Rachel Davis” it seemed a wise precaution especially if the woman in front of her was here about hiring the detective agency for work as opposed to Tanya’s “job offer”.

Rachel therefore responded as normally as possible and showed Yin into Tanya’s office. Almost as soon as Yin saw Tanya she knew she was in the right place because the “Hornet” never really wore a “proper” facial disguise so Yin recognised her straight away. It was now she had seconds thoughts so rather than wait until she had a chance to change her own mind, she got straight to the point and asked if the offer still stood. Tanya said yes and introduced her to “the Gecko”.

From that introduction the three of them decided to work together. Not long after they started this though Tanya found their nightly patrols were dogged by simple logistics. Yin lived somewhere different so had to cover a good distance across Atlantica before they could get started. Tanya therefore proposed giving Yin a job and selling her old apartment and getting a new larger apartment that they could all share but Yin felt she was inconveniencing the group. The team leader though made it clear that living and working together would solve most of the problems, including having to secure multiple locations from their “future” enemies.

It was only when they were living together did they start using the name Trident.

Save

Turbo


CLEA DATA FILE

Identity:

  • Callie Maguire

CLEA Classification:

  • Alpha Superior

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

  • Alpha Ability – Callie is considered the fastest of all the Alphas.
    (Stop Motion is technically faster but she does not use “normal” human movements)

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

  • Though she is fast she takes longer to reach her top velocity. In a straight line speed she cannot be beaten but over a course that has plenty of tight turns she has has to slow right down in order to change direction and on aggregate will be slower than other speedsters.
  • Finds tight spaces very problematic for above reason.
  • Like any other “runner” she expends a terrific amount of energy and so cannot maintain the usage of her Alpha ability for too long without becoming so drained she would collapse.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

  • Theft
  • Infiltration
  • Muscle for hire (occassionally)

Notes/History

As an Alpha criminal Callie is unusual for she openly avoids trying to endanger innocent people. Her speciality is theft and this the extremely adept at due to the fact her Alpha abilities allow her to move at incredible speed. This allows to get in and out of places before security personell are aware they had been robbed. Even when she is detected by cameras all they record is a blur.
Whilst she does try not to hurt anyone that gets in her way she is still very high on CLEA’s wanted list because on occasions she is hired by powerful crime organisations and in those cases the items she steal could be used to harm a great deal of people. Due to her speed few others can keep up with her but there is one exception, Aries from Team Zodiac.

Over the years the pair had engaged in a strange sort of competition of who can outsmart the other and whilst Mike Williams knows it is his duty to hand her over to the authorities he more often simply makes her hand back what she has stolen (providing of course he catches her). In his mind he sees Callie as a rebellious young woman whom is not outwardly “evil” like other criminals but instead has been led astray and is perhaps naive of the repercussions on her actions. Though Callie is slightly faster than Aries she is a lot slower in acceleration to her top speed. This means he has an advantage when a chase occurs over a “course” with lots of direction changes but in a straight line, if she has a head start on him he does not stand a chance.