Bitter Wraith: Difference between revisions
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==Assignment== | ==Assignment== | ||
Liz was dropped in the Isles and given the usual introductory talk of what to do and what not to (the second being a short but typically fatal list.) She was also reminded by Michaels of her own mission. She drifted for a while, her reports back to Michaels giving brief profiles of some of the other villains - most of which concluded the person was an idiot, or insane. | |||
She finally got together with a group when she and the members of the HBNS crossed paths, both hitting the same warehouse. Seeing any chance at a quiet job was blown, they made their way out - and Liz found herself a new home. Michaels would now get a look at the inner workings of this group, get an idea of its weaknesses and if it were any sort of threat to Arachnos. | |||
Liz, for her part, found a group that actually accepted her. Some were still 'freaks' like her, others raging to get back at the world for real or imagined slights - or, like her, really having nowhere to go. And after a while, they became a sort of family. One you wouldn't necessarily turn your back on for long, but one she came to trust more and more. She finally had a place to relax and call home - something she hadn't had since her 'death' in the Antarctic. She even managed to make some friends - [[Sandra Thompson]], the tomb raider, the not-exactly-succubus Dreamon, the broken assassin Robin (Sanguine Phantasm, later known as Redwraith) and others. | |||
==Her own boss== | ==Her own boss== |
Revision as of 15:18, 6 April 2022
"Well, well, what have we here..." - Fortunata Michaels on finding a survivor - Liz.
Background
School
Liz was a decent student, getting out of high school in the top third of her class. Generally well liked, a little bit of a troublemaker, told she could do better if she just applied herself. She got herself involved in volleyball, drama and debate (as well as organizing the occasional summer party.) Generally, she was a typical high school student.
Surprisingly, though, she'd set her sights on going into climate science. ("No, not a weather girl.") Hearing how some of the places she loved to go might be changed or destroyed by changes in climate, she decided she had to do her part to learn and maybe save them. This, despite the math involved, really kept her interest during college - even more, usually, than some of the parties and guys.
Which is why, as a graduate student, she found herself buying a parka and packing to join a flight to Antarctica for two weeks - a far cry from the nice, warm beaches she loved.
Field work and changes
Liz, Professor Keeler and another student flew down to South America to join a supply run to a base in the Antarctic. They'd be there for two weeks, learning and assisting in field work, getting first hand experience in gathering data and exploring where it led. What the students weren't aware of was that this supply run was more than it appeared, transporting supplies to the military contingent as well.
Supplies that the Arachnos outpost would rather not have them get, it turned out. They were unaware of the outpost until the missile launch, however - the one that Liz saw rising to hit and bring down their aircraft.
Liz, somehow, was the only survivor - at least the only one when the Arachnos security team came to investigate the wreckage. She had been laying outside, covered in spilled chemicals and whatever else had been in the hold, longer than she should have been able. Her skin - even the unexposed areas - was turning an unusual shade of blue as the chemical cocktail altered her, leaving her open and her future uncertain, other than the affinity she was gaining for the cold.
She couldn't have answered the security team leader's question - Fortunata Michaels' "What do we have here?" - if she'd tried. Or had the energy.
She was taken back to the Arachnos station along with some of the wreckage as an unknown metahuman, potentially a military or Longbow asset to interrogate. Her cuts and wounds were treated, the odd substance (now degrading, if it wasn't absorbed) noted, her clothing and bags gone through - all while Liz's body remained in a state of flux.
Impatience sealed what Liz would become. Another Fortunata decided they needed to either get something useful or get rid of their prisoner and stop wasting supplies. She came into the room late at night and began a none to gentle psychic probing of the mystery girl's mind. That probe imprinted on Liz, her mind grabbing the Fortunata and molding abilities of her own - abilities that freed her from the bed and ended *badly* for her questioner and the two guards with her. In most situations, this would have ended shortly afterward for her as well - but Michaels had been watching her insurbordinate subordinate. She knew Liz hadn't had these abilities before, and saw opportunity.
They cornered and sedated Liz - then had a talk with her, finding her own mental state more than a little suggestible. Liz had noticed the change in her skin and considered herself a freak now. She was told rather bluntly she could be useful and work with Arachnos, or she could be killed. She would be brought back to the Isles to infiltrate and report back on the influx of metahumans being brought in. On the way, her powers would develop. She'd still have to fight and make her own way - but at least she'd get a little support.
Not seeing an alternative - or another way out of the snowy wasteland she was in, Liz agreed. She took on the name Hyperborean Wraith - or just Wraith, for short.
Assignment
Liz was dropped in the Isles and given the usual introductory talk of what to do and what not to (the second being a short but typically fatal list.) She was also reminded by Michaels of her own mission. She drifted for a while, her reports back to Michaels giving brief profiles of some of the other villains - most of which concluded the person was an idiot, or insane.
She finally got together with a group when she and the members of the HBNS crossed paths, both hitting the same warehouse. Seeing any chance at a quiet job was blown, they made their way out - and Liz found herself a new home. Michaels would now get a look at the inner workings of this group, get an idea of its weaknesses and if it were any sort of threat to Arachnos.
Liz, for her part, found a group that actually accepted her. Some were still 'freaks' like her, others raging to get back at the world for real or imagined slights - or, like her, really having nowhere to go. And after a while, they became a sort of family. One you wouldn't necessarily turn your back on for long, but one she came to trust more and more. She finally had a place to relax and call home - something she hadn't had since her 'death' in the Antarctic. She even managed to make some friends - Sandra Thompson, the tomb raider, the not-exactly-succubus Dreamon, the broken assassin Robin (Sanguine Phantasm, later known as Redwraith) and others.