Rez Dispenser
"Wait... combat swimsuit? Seriously?"
Biography
Early days
Misty started having a normal childhood through her early teens. She was active, involved in school activities, volleyball, girl scouts - the works. She loved being out and around people. All signs pointed to a nice, normal life ahead for the girl.
Changes
Early in her teens, however, something happened. The cause was never really found, but she started doing ... less. She couldn't help it, moving hurt. Staying still hurt. Soon it seemed like every nerve in her body was conspiring to cripple her. The doctors looking at her tried what they could in therapy and medications, but eventually came to the conclusion that she'd not have a normal life ahead. Barring some miracle treatment, she'd be essentially disabled, at the mercy of the pain she was in almost constantly.
Misty didn't want to live her life stuck in a room, reliant on pills or IVs to make it through the day. During the times she did have some relief from her rebellious nervous system, she read. Meditation, martial arts, anything she could think of, she read.
Her mother was surprised to see her up and walking around the house without help a few weeks later. By the time she was sixteen, she was back in school - though excused from gym, annoyed as that made her - walking there and back. Senior year, she was in gym, too, though being out of practice meant she missed volleyball, her only real disappointment that year. The doctors? They couldn't explain it, and really didn't have a lot of time to. They eased her off the pain medications, called it good and just had her come in for checkups, declaring her cured of whatever had caused the pain in the first place.
She graduated, and her family moved just afterward. New location meant a new doctor - this one more connected to the metahuman community, using her empathic abilities along with standard medicine. When Misty came in for her checkup, one of the first questions her doctor asked was "How are you moving with all that *pain?*" It had never gone away. Misty had just learned to shove it all to the background and ignore it... most of the time. She felt she'd come to dominate her own pain and take control of her own body back.
This doctor helped her with techniques to manage her pain without drugs. She tried to find and cure the root cause, but even with her "little bit extra" she couldn't find a cause. She did, however, run across a program using nanotech that she thought might help. She introduced Misty to the director of the program and, over the summer of her 18th birthday, they both learned more about the tech and what it could do.
Christmas came and went, and they entered the new year with Misty admitted to the facility that would be infusing her with tiny robots. While Misty spent the week there, her bed, chairs and other furniture were upgraded to help these nanites charge. Misty decided on her new course in life after realizing she really had to look to feel the pain afterward.
And once she realized she could expend some energy from these nanites to ease the suffering of others, she knew exactly what she was going to do with her life.
Medic!
Life upgrades including training to become an EMT. It was where she figured she could do the most good, her doctor helping her out and letting her gain some general experience as well. Eventually she'd go for a nursing career. Due to her now "enhanced" status, she had to register as a hero - not that she thought she'd ever use that. She wouldn't turn down the incentives and financial help to keep her equipment up to date, though.
Her nanites also got hardware and software updates, helping her diagnose issues (again, having an empathic doctor proving to be a great help in getting a handle on figuring out what she was finding.) Over time, they managed to increase the range of her abilities - both in breadth and actual range. On the charging side, the .6 upgrade had the nanites charging alongside her own body, just with her walking and eating - and, as a nice summer surprise, even getting a tan. Working alongside metahumans, she even discovered some of their "spare" energy they gave off would help keep her going - though not enough to keep her from having to recharge after heavy use of her abilities.
So she found herself making use of that hero registration after all. And when Vanguard put out a call for assistance, she answered it. While she's seen in the city helping out where she can, she's quite often found alongside the teams keeping the Rikti presence under control.
OK, so the combat swimsuit...
The 'combat swimsuit' started out as a bit of a joke and grew into more. While she wore a regular one piece on a lark, usually being safely in the center of said raids, she found two advantages to it. Three if you count "No capes!"
First, it was much cooler. Breathable fabrics or not, being right in the center of a bunch of energy of various sorts getting discharged is a hot and sweaty place to be.
Second, her nanites *loved* it and could really keep her charged - which helped keep her going with the rest of the squads instead of running out of juice at the end and having to be transported off. Energy enough that - with another software upgrade - she could actually redirect some of the stored energy and hover. Even fly.
So, she went with a special uniform requisition and ... yes, got a combat swimsuit. And refuses to call it anything else, self-healing ballistic fabric with energy dissipating layers aside.