Post by kevindwolf93 on Jan 30, 2015 5:28:51 GMT
Gender: Female
Alignment: Villain
Team: none
Level: Street
Location: Reach City
Background:
“Happy birthday my little ‘Red’ Rose” I call over to the little girl. It was her 19th birthday and her old man was going to be in a business meeting until later. She didn't like that...
“Nitrate, it’s just Rose” the red-headed girl frowns, puffing out her cheeks. it was kind of cute despite her age.
“I keep forgetting, sorry. Come on, Ice Cream for breakfast, then a stroll down the boardwalk” I tease. She used to like doing that when she was 12, a 19 year old was a lot harder to reign in though there’s some kid in her still.
‘You’re lucky I’m in the mood for Rocky Road” she mutters bitterly outside the shop. She appreciated my effort but her dad was supposed to take her to Hawaii for the weekend. I had to pick up the slack on short notice; something about a big meeting with some associates.
“You’re right to be mad, but the guy’s gotta keep business running. It’s how I get paid” I joke.
“I'm either in the family business or I don’t get to see him” she complains.
“Hey, least he’s letting you stumble around and try your own thing”
“I know...I’m an adult now and stuff Nitrate, but sometimes-”
*BOOM*
A shock wave smashes us in the chest, Rose is thrown back and I feel like I’m back in Afghanistan. Soon I see the source of the blast; Little Aldo’s Pizza, right where Mr. Song was having his meeting.
Personality:
“Dad!” Rose shouts, back up before I can even shake off the blast. I’d never seen her so worried as she races to check on him, the two story restaurant had been leveled but she was hoping against hope he survived. Though with a blast that strong, I wasn’t expecting to pick apart one pile of mush from another- let alone see Boss Antonio Song in any recognizable shape. I manage to run her down and pin her against a car. She was putting up a fight, but I wasn’t about to let her see that mess.
“Rose, he’s dead!” I shout. We both stop to catch our breaths, hearing the phrase out loud stops us cold. “Some fucking schmuck killed him...we’re gonna kill them back” I promise. It was a tall order, but I owed the old man some vengeance for keeping me in the family.
“We both will. No talking me out of it” she eventually orders once she stopped sobbing. She looks me in the eyes, my sunglasses were off so she was staring into my soul with that glare.
“Ok Rose, we do it together. For now though, I’ll sort out what the hell went down. This isn’t pretty”. She agrees to that at least, from there we could already start smelling death. She takes a seat by the curb before I inspect the wreckage, she looked so sad but at the same time she wanted to get whoever did this. So did I.
Kinetic absorption, Superior:(4pt)- Songs don’t die easily...
Ground zero was a mess, bodies we’re shredded and it’d take a coroner to figure out who was who, and only after they finished holding down their lunch. Even I had some trouble keeping calm, almost a year in EOD and these things still freak me the hell out. I'm so wraped up I nearly miss what’s left of an old Panerai watch. It was splashed in bright red gore and bone chunks…his without a doubt.
“Found what’s left of him...” I mutter aloud, though before I can try and break the news to her a gunshot cracks over my head, several more follow. My sidearm's immediately drawn, but I see Rose hit the ground and man with a revolver. I don't hesitate, he takes a .45 slug to the chest.
“Goddamn that hurt!” I hear Rose cry out. I’d be worried but that meant she was ok, superpowers were a Song's specialty.
“You haven’t been practicing” I snark before restraining the would-be assassin.
“Barrier is not the coolest superpower alright? Never thought I’d need it”.
“You’re pretty much bulletproof, how's that not cool?” I argue, before pressing my boot on the schmuck's wound. Rose sits up, picking up the flattened bullet that should have pierced her heart. She flicks the bullet into the assassin’s face,
“Alright….I’m getting some answers”. She looks to me with very evil eyes, then him. Just like her old man.
“You’re shit outta luck bro” is all he deserves to hear out of me.
Commander, Superior:(4pt)- They always know how to rebuild.
“This everyone?” Rose asks as six guys in tattered clothes stand at attention. It’d been a week since the bombing and things weren’t getting any easier.
“Things are Old-West chaotic. Still, I got a lead from what the assassin told us” I say, tossing her some files. She doesn’t look happy, but now we had answers; someone broke a truce between the gangs in town and Song was target #1.
“We gotta establish ourselves quick. Whose Officer Dalton?” she asks, one file standing out.
“Found him doped up in a den earlier today. He’s still breathing...”
“Keep him that way. If he’s not fired, we’ve got two cops we can blackmail” she professionally deduces.
“The crowd's waiting then” I point out.
“You all know what I'm holding?” she asks,wielding a silver vial. The men nod; superpowers in a syringe, old Song's claim. He found a guy who could splice DNA in the 80’s, Song's DNA. He patented it, called it MIRACLE, and sold superhuman security. The first volunteer comes up and Rose injects the man before stepping back. I step forward in case, sometimes it went wrong. Rocky patches begin to cover his skin.
“Fitting Mr. Stone...this serum is more permanent than older supplies, more power. Don’t forget whose in charge though, I'm deceptively strong” Rose says, snapping a rock off with ease. The man nods submissively. “You guys are my first line of new enforcers, I’m stepping things up in retaliation”. She was getting good at being scary.
Ally, Superior:(4pt)- I’m her right hand man no matter what...
The Song Syndicate had quickly lost ground but Rose had become every bit as savvy and vicious as her father. What we had left, we defended violently. Rose had sent me to deal with someone trying to capture Mr. Stone. The assailant looked Japanese, knew Jujitsu, and we eventually got him speaking English.
“So, why Nitrate?” the punk asks through chipped front teeth. I was busy checking Mr. Stone, a scalpel in his sternum. Turns out the mook was trying to set him up for some surgery before I cut in.
“Shut up!” Stone shouts threateningly.
“I need him to be able to talk” I remind Stone. He backs off angrily while I step in front of the would-be killer. “If you gotta know, before I was a SEAL, I did a year with Bomb Disposal. In my area we dealt with fertilizer bombs and I was the guy that drew the short straw, they’re all like ‘Get Nitrate to handle this shit’…” I recall fondly. Given the cold reception, both Mr. Stone and the mook had rocks for brains. “Not everybody gets the joke” I grunt.
“I thought you shot fire” he huffs. The expectations people have sometimes...
I don’t touch the merchandise myself, but if you can set up a meeting with your boss and mine I might let you keep the rest of your teeth”. He seems all for the deal, Rose would be happy. “Give my regards” I say before kicking him in the face.
Decay, Standard:(2pt)- but she goes by a new name now.
I was waiting outside of a very nice meeting room, Rose’s was seeing Takeshi Hamada- a Japanese smuggler. He wouldn’t have ordered the hit, but he might've supplied the attack. My actions towards Takeshi's subordinate kept me out of the room.
“The man was very formal” Rose says, eventually strolling out.
“So it went badly?” I ask, catching up to her.
“He was an ass, he said a few things in Japanese. Pretty sure those were insults” she responds, still not breaking a stone-faced expression. I repeat my question. “Hamada knows he can’t hurt me. He said he’d give me a few names, that’s all I was worth. Option B was I toss some MIRACLE formula his way for more”.
“Your dad’s policy was to hand over enforcers, never sell ‘the juice’ directly” I counter, she stops me there.
“I took the names. Can we work with that?” she asks
"Yeah, of course..."
“Then we’ll be at Mr. Hamada’s funeral. Tuberculosis is a nasty way to die” Rose muses, calmly entering our car. I ask what she meant, she looks to a tulip she plucked. It was wilting in front of my eyes. She can see I'm shocked stiff. Ashamed, Rose dropped the flower. “Hamada was dangerous, especially without you there. I took a second shot of MIRACLE as a precaution...gave me death’s touch. I’m a wilting rose now”. Coldly, she orders me to just drive home. I frown, someone created a monster out of my little girl...they’ll regret that.