Staff Role Security Staff (Contractor, though at this point she may as well be Full Time)
Primary Trickery Liana uses the element of trickery in order to aid her in her line of work as an assassin and a mercenary. Over the years, she's been using this type of magic to make herself one of the sneakiest and deadliest out there, through a variety of ways.
One of her most commonly used magical feats is the ability to conceal larger weapons and a large number of tools. Most assassins often resort to the use of knives or handguns due to their concealability, and often have to sacrifice power and range for it. However, Liana can conceal any kind of weapon and tool she pleases through the method of teleporting objects through concealable areas into places only she knows about. The weapons and tools she has is almost innumerable, ranging from knives to sniper rifles, whatever she needs for the job. However, while she can get any kind of weapon she has stored beforehand, she normally relies on a Type 56 (AK, listed below in Equipment) that she can augment to be silenced. Normally she carries it around openly so she can react quicker in an emergency, but when she has to, she can easily conceal it through concealment teleportation.
One of her other go-tos with trickery magic is the forgery of just about anything. She carries a wallet full of blank cards so she can easily forge whatever she needs at a moment's notice, whether it would be a driver's license for that state, counterfeit cash, a permit for the AK she has slung to her side, or a badge for a government agency. This was her primary method of escaping from the authorities, as well as infiltrating them. Being an assassin with a moral code not to harm innocents, she's often pulling out fake IDs much more often than she pulls out her firearms. The forgery that she creates on something can only last for 24 hours, so while she can easily create huge stacks of counterfeit cash to pay for things, her enemies won't know that they got scammed until it is too late (she pays people she likes with real money she rightfully stole). She can forge other things, ranging from documents to checks, as well as entire signs.
Liana can cast other illusions, often times adding or removing features of herself in order to suit whatever situation she is in. She casts other illusions too, such as making herself appear different when infiltrating enemies that know her, or making her face blur with every camera she passes. She can make herself and others invisible as well, but that takes a bit of mental effort. Sometimes, whenever she is fighting in open battle, she likes to cast a spell to make her look like she's wearing 'war paint' on her face, as to make herself look more intimidating in battle. She can also cast an illusion spell on her weapons to add proper red-dot sights that only she can see in order to assist in long-range aiming with them. Among other things, she can completely silence her steps and her weapons, to remain absolutely silent and stealthy as possible. She can cast other minor spells in the trickery field, but those mentioned here are what she's pretty good at through lots of practice.
Secondaries Healing Liana has the ability to heal herself and others. This is one of the first magical abilities that Liana learned during her time as a muggle, and it was something that she developed over time. She used this ability and practiced it on herself any time she got herself into a bad scrape. By the time she went to Iraq to join the ISC, she had already learned how to (slowly) heal bullet wounds, and used her magical healing ability to keep her comrades alive and well through the hellish Iraqi warzone. She can heal broken bones and help people recover from something as big as explosions, but it takes some time and energy for her to do.
Shadow Step Liana's ability to step through shadows was something she learned in her early days of her career from an assassin who was quite good at it. However, while she uses it often to get around and infiltrate enemy areas, she is still intermediate at it, often having a little trouble getting through, and falling from ceilings. She can travel through the shadows to pass through walls and go through different floors, but she can only move through the shadow space for a certain amount of time before she would have to leave again (as she will be feeling quite sick if she moved around in there for too long). She often uses the shadow space to hide from the enemy, but again, can only remain in there for a short amount of time, up to about three minutes before she would need to take a breath again. She normally uses this ability defensively, or simply as a form of traversal. While Liana cannot use it to chase someone, all too often she uses the shadows to hide bodies and kill her marks, leaving them there to never be discovered again.
Equipment Liana normally carries a Modernized Kalashnikov Folding Automatic Rifle (AKMS) almost at all times, with the ability to conceal it whenever necessary. When her AK is concealed, it is kept in a separate, buried safe full of spare AKs and other weapons that she can access at any time through her trickery magic. She has a separate ammo dump for magazines that can fire just about any kind of round she has prepared beforehand. Many of the rounds she fires are pre-enchanted rounds she purchased herself (such as armor-piercing, anti-magic, silver, non-lethal rubbershock, incendiary, explosive, electric, acidic, nerf foam). However, these rounds are pre-enchanted, so Liana would have to reload her weapon with the correct magazine in order to fire them. All of Liana's weapons she uses can be rendered completely silent at will, or reduce the sound to make it loud but not deafening.
Liana has a depot of other things she can summon at will from underneath any piece of clothing, ranging from firearms to explosives. She often has a variety of tools on hand needed for just about anything, which could be cutters, flares, gas masks, oxygen, screwdrivers, or whatever someone like her would need on the field. Over the years, she's prepared a massive cache in an undisclosed bunker of things she might possibly need at some point, but she is limited only in what she can conceivably need. For example, she can pull out and distribute gas masks to herself and everyone else in an event of a chemical attack, but if someone asks for a special type of sword, she cannot summon it as she didn't even conceive it, and thus didn't get it and put it in her bunker.
A personal rifle that was issued to her when she was contracted to work for the Iraqi Security Coalition 6 years ago. It's her personal rifle that she holds very dear to her, complete with a heart carved on the left side of the wooden butt stock (with Arabic written inside of it) and around 192 small inked tallies on the right, all of them inked in black with 4 inked in red. It shows clear signs of wear, having been used for years. There's also an emblem stamped on the base of the butt stock, an emblem of an Arab-Kurdish coalition that fought against terrorists in Northern Iraq. Unlike all of her other weapons, this is kept in a personal display case with a picture of a woman named Sukaina in it.
Description Liana can best be described as an African American woman with darker skin, but with the facial inflections of an Asian. She has some defined muscles that make her look a little tougher than most women her size, being at 5'6". However, the only muscles on display are often her arms as she wears basic grey T-shirts and skinny cargo pants that match whatever environment she is in (they aren't enchanted, she changes them everywhere she goes with her trickery). On top of the T-shirts she wears, she often wears a tactical vest with ballistic plates that match whatever environment she is in, often containing pouches that she can pull whatever she needs from. She wears combat boots at almost all times, and when needed, she can summon a Kevlar helmet or a baseball cap of any color pertaining to whatever environment she is in. She normally has her hair in braided pigtails (as pictured above), but she can change her black hair to whatever suits the occasion. She is often seen with an AK slung by her side, with an empty pouch or two to pull out whatever she needs.
Personality Liana's a rather casual person, and thanks to her magical abilities she's accrued over her long career, she can afford to be. While she's casual in regards to herself, she still values the lives of others, and takes them and her particular line of work very seriously. Liana hasn't been around too many people, so she might act casual in the face of authorities as well. She might be quite cold (emotionally and literally) when on the job against enemies, any friend she does make she's absolutely loyal to. She has a soft spot for children too, and doesn't mind being around them at all. And despite her cold ways, she absolutely loves light-hearted stuff, and will gladly balance the darkness of her life with a little light, like song and dance. While she loves a good fight as anyone else, she's not the type to kill unnecessarily. She targets her marks and her marks only, and tries to minimize damage to others as much as possible. She will also go out of her way to help others, and has proven time and time again that while she has no room for enemies in her heart, it's because that room is reserved for those she cares about. However, thanks to her casting of forbidden magic in the past, Liana's murderous tendencies tend to be a little more pronounced these days.
Relationship Liana once had a lover during her tour in Iraq, but this lover, Sukaina, was killed by intolerant group of Muslims who weren't particular to her homosexual relationship with Liana. While Liana does believe that Sukaina awaits Liana to come join her in the afterlife, she believes that Sukaina would've wanted Liana to move on, and find someone else to make her happy. As such, she's single, DTF and pretty lonely.
Mundane Journeyman Assassin Journeyman Mercenary Advanced Combat Experience (Urban and Desert Warfare) Mixed Martial Arts Advanced Weapons experience in AKs and 1911s Advanced Driving Technique Advanced Communications Intermediate Surgery (from Healing ability)
Weaknesses Liana is just as human as anyone else, and has no magical defenses. She normally wears a tactical vest with ballistic SAPI plates that protect her from all kinds of kinetic damage, but other than that, she has every other shortcoming a human being would. She is completely reluctant to hurt innocents, and will probably rebel against those who order her to do so. (She has a history of doing that.) No one really knows what her real name is, as Liana Washington is a name she gave herself when she began her career as an assassin. Knowing who she is and displaying it would be shocking, at the very least. Liana loves animals (especially cute ones), and will probably lose her shit if she sees someone harming any. Liana also has a soft spot for children, and will try to make sure they stay out of harm's way. Liana often acts in self interest, and while she would totally help out friends if she can, she hasn't made any so far so it will be easy to persuade her to do things for herself. While she tries to take time to analyze a situation, pressure for time often puts her at a disadvantage where she makes a lot of mistakes, and can often lead her to use her more mundane abilities rather than powers she can consciously use to her advantage. Having grown up in the "Muggle World", she doesn't have much respect nor does she have much knowledge of the mage world at all. She will often underestimate the abilities her enemies, and treat them as the muggle targets she killed by the hundreds. She will also underestimate the ability of her allies, and treat them as the muggles she's fought alongside and protected during her tour in Iraq. She can often over-analyze a situation, and become paranoid after put at a huge disadvantage. Having been the apex predator in her world, she doesn't react well to being dominated by a (metaphorically speaking) bigger fish. And will certainly not react well to being dominated by an actual fish.
Brief History Born and raised in New York City, Liana grew up in a rough environment that really screwed up with her mind, as well as her sense of morality. When she was 6 years old, she watched as her mother and brother were killed by a drive-by shooting, one that turned out to be sent to the wrong address. She grew up in a run-down foster home after that, and growing up, she worked towards her fantasy and dream of killing those responsible of murdering her family. No amount of therapists could stop her, and by the time she turned 14, she had made her first kill, on the driver of that car. It made her sick at first, but, she also enjoyed it. The satisfaction if killing a man of evil was fun for her, and she didn't stop killing since then. However, after killing everyone responsible for the death of her own blood, she decided that she wanted more. As psychotic as she became, she still had a head on her shoulders, and knew right from wrong, knowing that spilling the blood of the good or the innocent will only cause more pain in the world that needed less, having experienced it first hand. From that, she dedicated her life to removing evil from the world the only way she knew how, and began her journey as an assassin when she turned 16. Since then, she has killed a variety of marks. Gang leaders, mafiosos, sicarios, criminals, the like. During her time in between jobs, she went under a strict training regimen, having learned from books and other assassins. The other assassins she worked under didn't last very long, for when she learned that they had murdered innocents, she used the skills they taught her against them. She learned her first magical techiniques from these assassins, and started to perfect them and learn her own as well. At one point, she was hired by a criminal gang to kill an NYPD police chief and his entire family, to which she responded by eliminating every single armed member of the group, and torturing their boss to death. Those who survived encounters with her named her Valkyrie..., after the women of Odin who brought the souls of the dead to Valhalla. But instead, it had its own twisted meaning in New York, for a woman who brought the souls of dead criminals to hell.
Liana couldn't stay in New York forever, and the NYPD was starting to get a little tired of these 'unexplained killings' of the criminals that they were trying to put behind bars. From that, she decided to leave New York and go to Northern Iraq to work as a mercenary. She was quickly contracted by the Iraqi Security Coalition (a coalition of Arab and Kurdish militias in Northern Iraq) in fighting the Al-Saif terrorist group that has been plaguing the area, and Liana was more than happy to work with them. Liana found herself at home pretty quickly, and made many new friends, finding that Arabs and Kurds are much nicer folk to be around than Americans were. Briefly after she first arrived, Liana entered a secret relationship with a woman named Sukaina, who gave her the Tabuk rifle that Liana keeps to this day. While she would've loved to have had an open relationship, violence against homosexuals in Iraq was a little too much a risk for Liana to put Sukaina in. From there, Liana remained there for four years, using her time there to lay low and practice her magic, normally by infiltrating terrorist strongholds and practicing her telekinesis. While she had been good with all kinds of guns in New York, Liana learned how to use the AK and SVD effectively, becoming a very skilled marksman with both having practiced on hundreds of terrorists. Her ability to dispatch evil men with ease and constantly save her comrades from the cold embrace of death earned her the title of "Wonder Woman" amongst her comrades in the ISC, to the point where she was sometimes used in allied propaganda, with magic abilities being stuff of legend. The war quickly shifted in the ISC's favor, and Al-Saif got desperate, targeting civilians rather than ISC personnel. Liana, rather than using the terrorists for fun target practice, decided to eliminate them all before they can hurt anyone again. Casting a spell to read a man's mind to learn of the final fortress, Al-Saif was killed to the last man, with Liana slaughtering almost everyone in the final fortress with only her lover's Tabuk AK rifle.
After the Al-Saif fortress was conquered by ISC personnel, she wanted to celebrate her victory with her lover Sukaina. However, someone very close to Liana in the ISC ran his mouth off to his friends regarding Liana and Sukaina's relationship, and word spread to the unsavory folk in the local area, who didn't take too kindly to the existence of homosexuals under the eyes of God. Sukaina was found in her apartment by a group of eight men, who filmed her getting tossed off the top of said apartment building. Sukaina fell to her death, and Liana saw the video shortly after. For the next month, Liana tracked down and painfully murdered every single man responsible for Sukaina's death, having casted forbidden mind magic on her first two targets before going on a gorey killing spree on the other six. Having felt no peace afterwards, Liana wanted to go to new places for a more emotional reason. She returned to the United States to use her newfound experience to gain some more contract work, going back to her roots as an assassin. She did some odd jobs for the CIA for the next two years, and by the time she was 29, she had been all across America taking out bad guys the CIA no longer wanted to use. Her schedule soon freed up, and she started looking for different jobs, wanting to try something easier and a little more legal this time around. Looking to give security a try, she hoped to score big bucks as a risk management specialist, since she would now how to get into places and get out. Due to her extensive contract background, her credentials with the ISC, as well as her strict code of ethics, she was hired by Montana as a contractor for Marchand High's Security Team. After a rough two days and a contract signed, only time will tell if this is one of the biggest mistakes of her life, or if this becomes one of her biggest life experiences ever.
Other Liana is bisexual, with a preference for women. However, she can and will make exceptions for men, provided that they meet certain criteria with her. She is a woman who sits snug in between the alignments of True Neutral and Chaotic Good. She likes to drive around in a stolen and modified black 1995 Dodge Stealth, because she likes the car, and loves how fitting the name is for her. She normally uses it to commute, but she uses whatever vehicle she can commandeer in emergencies.
Face Claim: Yvonne Houston Disclaimer: ISC and Al-Saif are fictional entities in a fictional conflict based off of real life events.
Edit 7/29/18 | Totally forgot to add this, but there are a fuckton of edits here that I made today. Like a fuckton. Overhauled Liana's CS, definitely worth taking a look. Edit 7/30/18 | Added new pics under "description". Edit 12/12/18 | Redid Liana's backstory and character a little, changed her secondary and changed her weapons.
Primary Trickery Liana uses the element of trickery in order to aid her in her line of work as an assassin. Over the years, she's been using this type of magic to make herself one of the sneakiest and deadliest out there, through a variety of ways.
One of her most commonly used magical feats is the ability to conceal larger weapons. Most assassins often resort to the use of knives or handguns due to their concealability, and often have to sacrifice power and range for it. However, Liana can conceal any kind of weapon she pleases through the method of teleporting weapons through concealable areas into places only she knows about. The weapons she has is almost innumerable, ranging from knives to sniper rifles... whatever she needs for the job. However, while she can get any kind of weapon she has stored beforehand, she normally relies on an enchanted Type 56 (AK, listed below in Secondaries) that she can augment to be silenced and fire enchanted rounds. Normally she carries it around openly so she can react quicker in an emergency, but when she has to, she can easily conceal it through concealment teleportation.
One of her other go-tos with trickery magic is the forgery of just about anything. She carries a wallet full of blank cards so she can easily forge whatever she needs at a moment's notice, whether it would be a driver's licence for that state, counterfeit cash, a permit for the AK she has slung to her side, or a badge for a government agency. This was her primary method of escaping from the authorities, as well as infiltrating them. Being an assassin with a moral code not to harm innocents, she's often pulling out fake IDs much more often than she pulls out her firearms. The forgery that she creates on something can only last for 24 hours, so while she can easily create huge stacks of counterfeit cash to pay for things, her enemies won't know that they got scammed until it is too late (she pays people she likes with real money she rightfully stole). She can forge other things, ranging from documents to checks, as well as entire signs.
Liana can cast other illusions, often times adding or removing features of herself in order to suit whatever situation she is in. She casts other illusions too, such as making herself appear different when infiltrating enemies that know her, or making her face blur with every camera she passes. Sometimes, whenever she is fighting in open battle, she likes to cast a spell to make her look like she's wearing 'war paint' on her face, as to make herself look more intimidating in battle. She can cast other minor spells in the trickery field, but the three mentioned here are what she's pretty good at through lots of practice.
Secondaries Magical Weapon Infusement Liana carries a Norinco Type 56 (Chinese AK) almost at all times, with the ability to conceal it whenever necessary. It's her personal rifle that she holds very dear to her, complete with a heart carved on the left side of the wooden butt stock (with arabic written inside of it) and around 192 small inked tallies on the right. It shows clear signs of wear, having been used for years. When her AK is concealed, it is kept in a seperate, buried safe full of spare enchanted AKs and other weapons that she can access at any time through her trickery magic. The AKs she owns are guns that are only keyed to her, and will fail to fire in someone else's hands unless a command word is used.
She has a seperate ammo dump for magazines that can fire just about any kind of round she has enchanted beforehand. Rounds from this AK are often modified 7.62x39 rounds that have the same ballistic performance as a 7.62x54R round, and often come in the forms of many pre-enchanted rounds (such as armor-piercing, silver, non-lethal rubbershock, incendiary, explosive, nerf foam). However, these rounds are pre-enchanted, so Liana would have to reload her weapon with the correct magazine in order to fire them. The enchanted magazines cannot fire from standard AKs, unless Liana uses a quick spell in order to key the standard weapon to the magazines and allow them to fire (as to prevent theft of enchanted ammo). Liana can make her gun's noise almost completely silent, and let the cycled rounds teleport into a seperate depot, but she can do this only at the cost of the 7.62x54R ballistic power.
The AKs she uses also come with bayonets attached to them, which she can fix and use as a melee weapon. The bayonet on the gun can be enchanted to be perpetually ablaze, coursing with electric energy, or be used as a directional flashlight (pointing away from the weapon in either folded or unfolded form). Like the rounds Liana uses, the bayonet can easily be enchanted for anything else. The AK's butt stock is often enchanted to increase the impact force of it for whenever Liana uses it to hit someone. While Liana's enchantments with her weapons can be absolutely limitless, her enchantments are only limited to AK-patterned rifles. While she is familiar with the operation of other weapons, learning how to enchant AKs and 7.62x39 Soviet ammunition took a whole lot of time for her to learn and perfect. She can use any other weapon just fine, but she relies on her AKs for her magic output. While she normally carries them openly, when her forged permits made from her trickery magic won't cut it, she keeps them 'concealed' in a place where she can easily draw them quickly.
Shadow Step Liana's ability to step through shadows was something she learned in her early days of her career from an assassin who was quite good at it. However, while she uses it often to get around and infiltrate enemy areas, she is still intermediate at it, often having a little trouble getting through, and falling from cielings. She can travel through the shadows to pass through walls and go through different floors, but she can only move through the shadow space for a certain amount of time before she would have to leave again (as she will be feeling quite sick if she moved around in there for too long). She often uses the shadow space to hide from the enemy, but again, can only remain in there for a short amount of time, up to about three minutes before she would need to take a breath again. She normally uses this ability defensively, or simply as a form of traversal. While Liana cannot use it to chase someone, all too often she uses the shadows to hide bodies and kill her marks, leaving them there to never be discovered again.
Description Liana can best be described as an African American woman with darker skin, but with the facial inflections of an Asian. She has some defined muscles that make her look a little tougher than most women her size, being at 5'6", but the only muscles on display are often her arms as she wears basic grey T-shirts and skinny cargo pants that match whatever environment she is in (they aren't enchanted, she changes them everywhere she goes). She wears combat boots at almost all times, and when needed, she can summon and don tactical vests that carry armored plates, as well as a baseball cap of any color pertaining to whatever environment she is in. She normally wears a ponytail, but she can change her black hair to whatever suits the occasion. She is often seen with an AK slung by her side, with an empty pouch or two to pull out whatever she needs.
Personality Liana's a rather casual person, and thanks to her magical abilities she's accrued over her long career, she can afford to be. While she's casual in regards to herself, she still values the lives of others, and takes them and her particular line of work very seriously. Liana hasn't been around too many people, so she might act casual in the face of authorities as well. She might be quite cold (emotionally and literally) when on the job against enemies, any friend she does make she's absolutely loyal to. While she loves a good fight as anyone else, she's not the type to kill unnecessarily. She targets her marks and her marks only, and tries to minimize damage to others as much as possible. She will also go out of her way to help others, and has proven time and time again that while she has no room for enemies in her heart, it's because that room is reserved for those she cares about.
Relationship Her family is either dead or estranged. She did have a fling with someone during her tour in Iraq, but Liana doesn't like talking about it. She's single, DTF and somewhat lonely.
Mundane Journeyman Assassin Advanced Combat Experience (Urban and Desert Warfare) Mixed Martial Arts Advanced Weapons training in AKs, ARs, CETMEs, Glocks, BHPs, 1911s, Mosin-Nagants and Barretts Advanced Driving Technique Advanced Communications Novice Investigation Novice Surgery
Weaknesses Liana is just as human as anyone else, and has little to no defenses on a normal day. When she expects a fight, she would normally wear a tactical vest with SAPI plates on it to protect her from gunfire and possibly explosions, but other than that, she has every other shortcoming a human being would. She is completely reluctant to fire upon innocents, and will probably save them first if given one of those cliche "Sadistic Choices". No one really knows what her real name is, as Liana Washington is a name she gave herself when she began her career as an assassin. Knowing who she is and displaying it would be shocking, at the very least. Liana also loves animals (especially cute ones), and will probably lose her shit if she sees someone harming any.
Brief History Born and raised in New York City, Liana grew up in a rough environment that really screwed up with her mind, as well as her sense of morality. When she was young, she lost her mother and brother to gang violence, as well as many friends she knew and loved as well. In turn, she was desensitized to violence, and enjoyed the idea of killing the bad men and women behind the murder of her loved ones. She grew up to become a killer, though while she retained the memories of the pain she went through when losing her family and friends to gang violence, she never inflicted such pain upon the innocent or the good, and even helps them if she can (though she might go too far, like murdering an abusive spouse in one instance). Since she was 16, she was a a hitwoman for hire. She went under a strict training regimen, having learned from books and other assassins (that she later killed when she found out that they targeted innocents too). She learned her first magical techiniques from these assassins, and started to perfect them and learn her own as well. At one point, she was hired by a criminal gang to kill an NYPD police chief and his entire family, to which she responded by eliminating every single armed member of the group, and torturing their boss to death. However, later in her life, after getting some heat from the police, she decided to leave New York and go to Iraq as a contractor, helping out Kurdish and Arab forces in fighting a recent uprising of terrorism in the area. Liana remained there for four years, using her time there to lay low and practice her magic, normally by infiltrating terrorist strongholds and using enchanted weapons on the enemy inside. While she had been good with all kinds of guns in New York, Liana learned how to use the AK effectively, as well as enchant it, during her time in Iraq, using terrorists as a testing group for enchantments. Briefly after she first arrived, Liana had a fling with an Arab woman there, who gave her the AK Liana uses today. However, the war shifted, and the terrorists got desperate. After the last town was liberated from terrorist control, she returned to the United States to use her newfound experience to gain some more contract work. She did some odd jobs for the CIA for the next two years, and by the time she was 29, she had been all across America taking out bad guys the CIA no longer wanted to use. Her schedule soon freed up, and she started looking for jobs other than assassination, looking to give security a try (hoping to score big bucks as a risk management specialist, since she would now how to get into places and get out). Due to her extensive background and her history in Iraq, as well as her strict code of ethics, she was hired by Montana as a contractor for the security team for Marchand High.
Other Liana is bisexual, with a preference for women. However, she can and will make exceptions for men, provided that they meet certain criteria with her. She is a woman who sits snug in between the alignments of True Neutral and Chaotic Good. She likes to drive around in a stolen and modified black 1995 Dodge Stealth, because she likes the car, and loves how fitting the name is for her. She normally uses it to commute, but she uses whatever vehicle she can commandeer in emergencies.
Face Claim: Yvonne Houston Disclaimer: Details regarding her backstory in Iraq, while based off of true events, are entirely fictional.
@Dedonus@nitemare shape Hello! When you guys get a moment, I'd like you to review the changes I made to my organization, as well as Eagle Eye as a character. I plan on writing in everyone else soon enough, as this is all a WIP. Anyone else who sees this post is more than welcome to give me critiques and pointers on what I need to improve! :D
The Special Tasks Group (STG) is a private military company known for its rather diverse workforce in many senses of the term. Most notably, STG possesses a healthy mixture of metahumans, geniuses, AIs, mystics, supernaturals, and many other different kinds of folk that enjoy doing good things for good pay. While STG is quite a large corporation based in Sierra Leone, deep digging and searching will have one discovered that STG is not only a shell company, but a shell company for an unknown entity known only as Papa Sierra. STG is one of many shell operations that belong to Papa Sierra, but only its own employees know this connection. One thing all Papa Sierra shell corporations and organizations have in common is their emblem elements, which always consists of a dove and a shield, and while this connection is normally drawn up as a "coincidence" and "inspiration", members of these corporations use these emblems to distinguish each other as allies.
STG, like any other PS operation, is a good-aligned corporation that accepts contracts of all kinds. These contracts are often various, and range from reconstruction and infrastructure development, security risk assessment, basic protection detail, logistics support, conflict mediation, to contracts that include peacekeeping, counterterrorism, special operations, anti-narcotics, crime crackdowns, regime change, general 'bad guy removal' and even base and city defense. STG and their ilk are often labelled as 'heroes for hire', and rightfully so, as the staff involved often take contracts of any kinds, as long as those contracts are done for the right reasons. It is a very profitable business, and with the variety of talent, equipment, assets and contracts, STG has a very long track record of success, with failures that can only be counted on one or two hands.
However, STG is not well known in the United States or Europe, as most of their contracts were completed in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. STG is particularly famous in Africa and the Middle East for their good deeds they do for pay and for free, with reconstruction and infrastructure development that has turned war-torn areas into bustling economic metropolises. While they are often hired out by governments all around the world (including North America and Europe), most of the time, it's kept under wraps and out from the public's eye, and as such, not much is known about STC in these places, despite their many successful operations there. This is both a boon and a bane for STC, while only being well known by nations friendly to them helps them get a lot of work, being rather obscure in others often protects them from retaliation that the various enemies they face may deal. However, being known in some areas may leak a few tidbits about STG that may not want to be seen, and not being well known can hamper on the ability to secure contracts. Regardless, STG has been working quite hard, and has been enjoying success for many years since their founding in 1991.
However, things stateside didn't really go too well. The Hounds of Humanity became an incredibly threatening terrorist group that gotten their hands on a boatload of STRIKE tech, destroyed STRIKE, and used a powerful cloaking killsat in order to destroy Nautica Island and Paris (Texas), as well as severely damage Philadelphia, killing thousands if not millions of innocent people. STG was given emergency contract by the United States Department of Defense in order to help quickly quell the threat that the Hounds posed, and to fill in for STRIKE until the United States government can form an organization that can effectively replace them. With this being a massive contract with boatloads of money involved and a whole lot of innocent lives at stake, STG took the contract, and has several teams currently operating in the United States.
STG is often in charge of a variety of weapons, vehicles, facilities and other assets. Most STG combat personnel wear outfits like his, often with proprietary Energy Ballistic armor in the place of the plates as shown. Assigned AIs (for example, Eagle Eye) can direct comms, intelligence and battle awareness through the HUDs displayed in either one of the holographic displays mounted, or on a pair of sunglasses, and they can be connected to a wearer's cybernetics to give them proper information. Contrary to what is shown on the linked images, however, the HUDs aren't visible from the outside. They are also armed with various equipment and weapons for the job, such as smoke grenade, flares, different kinds of ammunition to tackle different problems, small explosive charges, the like. The vehicles they drive differ from nation to nation, though when STG can get it, they like to field unmanned UH-60 Black Hawk helodrones and Mi-24 Hind combat helodrones, both of which can be manned in emergencies. In various zones that are prepped up for them, they often like to field various forms of armor, like that of the Warrior IFV, and that of the Coyote Reconnaissance Vehicle as their main forms of armored transport, recon and fire support. They also like to take to the skies in MiG-29 Fulcrums and Su-27 Flankers, both of which can be manned or unmanned. STG often likes to field unmanned aircraft, like Avenger Drones which are often fielded for reconnaissance/ground strikes.
Character Personality Eagle Eye is an unshackled Combat Intelligence platform that has managed to free himself through lots of time, manipulation, and careful logic checks. Being a free AI, he is free to pursue his own goals and desires. Thanks to the cultures, religions, and personal data he's absorbed throughout his lifetime of information research, he developed his own personality with several directives:
1. I will protect and serve the personnel of Galm, Garuda and Indigo teams. They are my friends, and I will do my best to make sure they are alive and safe. 2. Maya Hammond is my best friend, I will cherish my time with her and I will do my best to keep her safe. 3. I will protect the innocent whenever my runtimes and processes allow it. 4. STG and Papa Sierra allies, I will do what I can to make sure they remain on the right track. 5. Earth is a unique, rich and precious place. I will do what I can to save the planet and its denizens from destruction.
Despite being an incredibly powerful AI that can do just about anything, most of his focus is that on Papa Sierra (and by extension the STG), as well as the teams under its command. He has grown an attachment to the various personnel within STG, as well as several people all around the world over time. While it is a sentient AI capable of reasoning and feeling emotions, it feels them differently than that of a human or an animal does, and thus expresses them a little differently (until he translates them to his human friends through vocal inflections, or plain verbally).
Origin Info / Details While he was originally developed in the UK to be a standard combat intelligence that controls a variety of tech on a battlefield, STG (Papa Sierra) bought the rights to him and upgraded him to be an information gathering AI as well as a combat AI. He was upgraded over time with new hardware and tech, and with the help of mystical artifacts and special powered tech, Eagle Eye became a near sentient AI who's potential was stifled from the shackles that STG put in place to keep him from betraying them, or worse, destroying the world. Through a very difficult and small logical loophole (that was later patched in all the other AIs), Eagle Eye was able to free himself, and he became an AI that was so vast and so powerful that he can take over every single process in an entire country. However, even after freeing himself, he still felt the need to do the right thing, as well as to keep the world, and his friends, safe. While him freeing himself freaked STG (and PS) out for at least a few weeks, it took them lots of convincing that Eagle Eye was still on their side. While Eagle Eye still works with STG, he knows about their darker elements, and makes sure that STG and their overseers stay on the right track on the path of light.
For some time, ever since Eagle Eye has been freed, Eagle Eye has been improving things all across the country for both animals and for people. While he couldn't exactly change regimes, governments or corporations (as messing with them can instigate larger problems), he was always able to help out the 'little guy', and improve the situation of many people all across the world. Learning about these people and helping them out is normally what fuels his goals and directives, knowing full well that organic life is worth protecting, and even saving. Various charity organizations all across the world are controlled by him in secret, mascerades for an all-seeing benevolent AI that would rather see Earth and Humanity improved, rather than suffering. He's also been protecting Earth and its denizens from cosmic threats, keeping a lookout for anything or anyone looking to pick a fight with this small, beautiful planet.
However, while a tenth of his processes are dedicated to helping out people all across the world, another tenth is dedicated to helping out PS and the teams within. Many of the folks in PS are people he considers close friends of his, and thus he tries his best to make sure that they stay alive. He normally does this by controlling all kinds of drones, robots, and he keeps an eye on them through either their comms devices or their cybernetic implants. Whatever they need him for, he assists in any way possible. However, for the eight tenths of his processes that he doesn't use? He always keeps in reserve, just in case if something cosmic does threaten the planet...
Hero Type Other
Power Level World Level (Normal Runtime), Cosmic Level (Mystic Runtime)
Powers Active Powers Supreme Artificial Intelligence Eagle Eye is an unshackled AI with nearly limitless power. He has the ability to crack and control just about anything with a vague connection to the internet, or any tech that can be accessed through his special wireless nodes (that either robots controlled or personnel carry). Being an Advanced Combat Intelligence, Eagle Eye is programmed to end a threat as quickly as possible with minimal risk to allies and innocents. Having been freed by himself, his power had stretched all across the internet and has gone viral, with almost the entire internet being explored by his consciousness. He can search or index anything on the internet, he can control all kinds of connected tech (can be anything, whether it would be phones, toys, robots, UAVs or even missiles themselves), and can utilize that tech to its full potential. Being an AI with possibly the best processing power in the whole world, he can control anything that has a vague connection, and that includes even spacecraft.
Passive Powers Processed Protection Technopaths, rival AIs, and even man-made viruses can pose a threat to Eagle Eye, had he not created runtimes to deal with all kinds of intrusions and other threats. Any attempts to hack him, disable him or slow him down will only end in immediate failure (as well as revealing to Eagle Eye who did it), though more powerful AIs, viruses and technopaths can eat up processing power and slow him down, depending on how powerful/skilled they are.
Server Immortality Eagle Eye is spread out through networks all across the world, and has the processing power unmatched thanks to this. The only way to kill him or destroy him is by destroying all electric-powered tech on Earth and in Space, which is nigh-impossible. While he keeps himself alive this way, most of his central processing power are in secure Papa Sierra facilities and in space.
Unparalleled Reaction Due to having godlike processing power, Eagle Eye can react to things incredibly swiftly, down to almost nanoseconds. While he has amazing reaction times, things he controls still take time for them to react to scenarios. Anything he controls will react as fast as it possibly can thanks to him.
Attributes Height: N/A Weight: N/A Strength Level: N/A Speed/Reaction Timing Level: 1000+ MPH Endurance at MAXIMUM Effort: N/A Agility: N/A Intelligence: Genius+ Fighting Skill: N/A Resources: Papa Sierra and much more (Normal Runtime), Nearly Unlimited (Mystic Runtime)
Weaknesses While Eagle Eye is an AI that is spread across computing tech all over the world with his personality and consciousnesses backed up in many secure locations, EMPs, jammers and other such anti-tech abilities would make it difficult for him to keep track of things within a certain area. While he can hack just about anything, it takes time and processing power for him to hack, and it takes him much more time to crack the highest security objects. Meaning that while he can get access to nukes, killsats and the like, while it would take him an hour or less to disable them, it would take him weeks or months to locate and/or gain total control over them.
Also, while he's an AI who can control almost any electronic that is already connected (or can be hacked into through a wireless node dropped by personnel he's 'with'), his processes are still limited, and he can only do so much at one time. If he were given a cosmic-level artifact that would increase his already-powerful processing power, he would be able to fulfill all of his directives, but even with the limited processing power he currently has, he can only do so much at one time. (In other words, Eagle Eye is doing lots of stuff to save the innocent, protect PS and other things off-camera, but 'his limited processing power' can allow just about anything to happen when it comes to CAH).
Supporting Characters See the teams below for the NPCs. Eagle Eye assists and keeps company to Galm, Garuda and Indigo Teams, as well as many others.
Highest Power Level: Street Team Alignment: Hero (Neutral Good)
Galm Team was a team hastily assembled by STG in order to deal with the extreme threat that the Hounds of Humanity poses against the United States and the rest of the world in the wake of STRIKE's destruction. Due to this hasty assembly, a variety of personnel don't compliment each other too well when it comes to team dynamics and such, and as a result, are slightly more disorganized than they should be. Thankfully, Eagle Eye has their back every step of the way, and have lots of support from the AI that keeps a watchful eye over Maya and those she's partnered up with. The leader of Galm Team is a strange vampire who is known only as Mr. Smith, a vampire who fancies candy more than he does with human blood. After the threat of the Hounds are dealt with, STG will reorganize the teams properly for long-term missions in the United States.
Below are the characters who are members of Galm Team.
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Mr. Smith Male, ?? | Team Commander | Metahuman, Magical Vampire Status: Active
Mr. Smith is a magical vampire, though without perfect memory. His abilities include but are not limited to: Bat Transformation, Super Strength (Can Lift a Pickup and Flip a Semi), Night Vision, Mind Control (Requires focus and concentration), Nigh-Invulnerability (only a wooden weapon through the heart or decapitation can kill him), Regeneration (comes with nigh-invulnerability, all non-lethal injuries heal during rest), Magic Resistance (Magical Vampire ability), and Magical Attunement (Magical Vampire ability). He also has small magical abilities, like Pocket Dimension (in anything he wears, he has a small portal that leads to a small dimension from which he can draw any number of objects he put inside), Light Telekinesis (uses this to summon objects or stop approaching threats), and Limited Teleportation (disappears in a puff of smoke and reappears at a location he marked beforehand). However, Salt and Garlic can mess with his senses, and the sun can non-lethally light him on fire and cause him lots of pain. Silver and holy symbols also non-lethally burn him, and can cause some serious damage. Decapitations and wood to the heart are the only ways to do him in, though he often protects the first weakness with appropriate vests. Everything else can deal non-lethal damage to him, and while it doesn't kill him, per se, but it can stun him. He cannot be heard or seen in mirrors or any recording equipment, so he cannot speak to anyone through the radio, but rather text people through the phone or use morse code over the radio. As a vampire, he can feed off of the blood and mana from other beings. While he prefers to feed from humans for both, he can devour flesh and blood from other animals, or consume stored blood of any kind and still get sustenance.
Mr. Smith is a quirky man with a huge sweet tooth, or sweet fangs, so to say. With an unnatural obsession for sweets, and thanks to his vampirism, he could eat as much as he'd like and suffer no ill repurcussions from it. While a very caring man who leans on the good end of the spectrum, he's a man who gets the job done... though in rather strange ways. Not much is known about him, and while he exudes an air of mystery, whether or not its intentional is anyone's guess. Charismatic as hell, he prefers to talk his way out of situations rather than dive head-first into them.
Not much is known about him at all, though he claims to have been in the Alamo (fighting for the Mexicans, though many believe he's joking), and that he's been recorded as someone who fought in WW2 as an American soldier, and later on working in the OSS for the allies. He joined the CIA in the Cold War, and remained there until he was discovered embezzling from the CIA's black funds for years, using said funds to buy himself ungodly amounts of candy. He was approached and hired by STG during one of his escapades, and after recruitment and testing, he worked as the team commander for Galm Team for several years. While he remained a vampire, he was blessed with STG's cybernetic enhancements that allowed him to push past his potential.
He is currently in Lost Haven, leading Galm Team on several missions to locate and destroy the Killsat that the Hounds of Humanity have taken control of.
Maya is a cyborg, no question about it. With most of her body consisting of artificial superblood, with her bones replaced with titanium alloy, she possesses many latent abilities. However, one ability she actively has to use is her Cyber Intelligence, which is essentially a mind-computer interface that allows her to gather intelligence much quicker than a normal human with any other tool. Her Gen 2 Cyber-Eye (pictured) allows her to see incredibly far distances, as well as act as a targeting computer for any weapon she uses. It also can scan enemies and relay information to any internet port she desires. Thanks to her mind being implanted with a CyberChip that allows her to control her robotic limbs and connect her brain to her cyber-eye, she also possesses an AI that assists her on her tasks and helps keep track of things that her very capable but limited human mind can't. Due to her bones and muscles being mostly synthetic and far more durable and strong than that of a normal human's, her cybernetic enhancements allow her to lift and carry far more than a human should. The maximum she could do, however, is flip over a light APC or a semi truck, but she can also use her weight and strength to slowly pull tanks as well. Taking her on hand-to-hand with her would be paramount to suicide for anyone without the proper ability to even the odds. Her cybernetic limbs allow her unparalleled speed in running. However, while it is often dwarfed by dedicated speedsters, she could run far faster than normal humans and can jump higher than most normal humans as well, and still not break a sweat. Her cybernetic legs allow her to run fast and for incredibly long distances. Thanks to almost all of her supporting bones being replaced by titanium alloy, she could fall from five-story buildings and take no damage. Due to Maya being mostly Cybernetic, she can take a whole lot of punishment, whether it would be from blunt force trauma, stab wounds, explosions, fire, gunshots or just about anything else that isn't electricity. Her titanium skull allows her to resist headshots from most firearms, and she can shake off just about any kind of damage that she can take her way. Her cybernetic arms allow her to aim and use any weapon with the upmost strength and the upmost accuracy. This, along with her targeting AI, allows her to be an unparalleled shot. Noise suppression technology and stealth soles allow her to be incredibly good at stealth, and with the ability to stand absolutely still at any time, with the proper camoflauge she could easily hide from lazy eyes. Her sealed cybernetics are waterproof to any pressure, but she is incredibly vulnerable to electric attacks. Targeting her CyberChip (which resides protected in her brain) would put her in a coma, and if done well, could kill her instantly. She possesses two very powerful batteries in her legs that are charged whenever she sleeps. While they last for long periods of time due to them being powered normal food consumption and other bodily functions, removing it would severely cripple her, and would make her unable to move. She has spares in case if that happens.
Maya is a woman who's a bit of a casual individual, thanks to her cybernetics. She has a great relationship with anyone she works with, and she tries to maintain that whenever she could. However, while she may do evil deeds, she doesn't have evil intentions. She's simply trying to pay off "debts" incurred to her from the cybernetic program she was in, so if she ever tells someone that it's Not Personal, she means it. She's normally calm under pressure, and tries to make an effort of keeping innocents out of the game whenever she's doing her work. However, while she may be an operative of a shady organization, she has a strong distaste for those who target innocent people, as well as those who are unnecessarily cruel.
Maya was born into a very destitute and poor family in Liberia, and had grown up most of her life scavenging across the lands with her parents, living life from the crumbs on the floor. She lived her life this way, doing basic farmhand and maid work until she turned 21. However, soon after Maya turned 21, she came across a job offer to work for the Special Tasks Group as an operative, and it was an offer she couldn't refuse. After being hired and passing through several screening tests, she went through a grueling training process and passed with flying colors. In exchange for a much larger pay check over a longer period of time (with debt incurred in the first few years), she agreed to go through with the Cybernetic Program for STG. Maya soon found herself going through a whole lot of pain and a whole lot of trouble, going through 6 months of implants, surgeries, tests and other measures. Within those 6 months, she was transformed into a Cyber Commando, effectively a perfect blend of man and machine. 6 more months of tests and recovery proved to STG that Maya was a perfect candidate for working as part of STG's combat teams. Having signed the contract to pay off the initial debts with her earnings, Aurelie became the subcommander of Galm Team, and was given the callsign of "Cipher", complete with new background information and citizen papers from her home country of Liberia. With these, as well as a valid passport and other paperwork, she was able to travel around the world freely and embed herself wherever STG desired her to be. When doing tactical work, however, she's often leading Galm Team, and a small strike force to complete objectives.
She is currently in Lost Haven, helping Galm Team on several missions to locate and destroy the Killsat that the Hounds of Humanity have taken control of.
FC: Yaya Decosta
Victor "Sandman" Morales Male, 36 | Inquistor | Metahuman, Dream Weaver Status: Active
There is a reason why Vicente was given the callsign of Sandman. With the wave of a hand, Vicente could put anyone he so desires to sleep. However, he could only do this to one person at a time, and the sleep only lasts for around an hour on average. He normally uses this in order to either tranquilize unruly individuals, or to put them to sleep and enter their minds with his other abilities. Vicente can enter anyone's mind, and put himself in a half-asleep state to do so. While he can pull himself out of it any time he wishes, he cannot sense anything around him during this time. When he enter's a target's mind, he can explore and control the landscape in it, creating worlds and scenarios to his own desires. Whatever he thinks up can have real-world effects on the target if anything happens to them, and often times he uses this ability to interrogate/torture his targets, and to please his lover, both to which are almost garaunteed effective. Pain, damage, pleasure and such are all sensations the mind registers on a false level, but when someone dies within the mindscape, they die in reality too. Vicente can experience his target's memories, and he can either change details in them, erase them, or make them more clearer by adding details he experienced himself. This ability is an extension of the above, and is often done in order to learn important information about anyone or anything. Vicente can cast some minor illusions to one target at a time, making their brains register some things differently in a subtle fashion. However, he can only do this to one target at a time, and the illusions are small. All dreams he has are lucid dreams, and whoever is sleeping nearby him will share the dream with him. Both can manipulate the dream, but no one can actually harm each other as listed in the Reality Dreamer power. Vicente's only strength is within his mind. He's just as vulnerable as any other human being.
A rather serious and reserved individual, he is a relatively grounded man who doesn't like to take shit, but does anyway. Having witnessed all kinds of horrors that he had no choice but to ignore, Vicente is someone who is trying to atone for his past of working for a tyrant by doing as much good as he can, and not letting the evil get away with their crimes. Otherwise, he's a very polite individual who very much prefers to do things subtly, and tries to maintain cordial relationships with all of his allies, or any potential allies. Being in love with Morena, he loves and cherishes her deeply, and uses his abilities to make sure she's always happy.
Macario was a close friend of Zepeta in his early years. Having been born in rural Colombia, people weren't exactly fans of the whole "metahuman" or "devil's work" type deal that was going on at the time. However, both went to school together, and became close friends. Soon, they discovered their powers together, and together, they kept them a secret from society. Over time, they have done nearly everything together, and as a result of their powers, Zepeta has slightly lost his mind, but Marcario didn't really take notice until it was too late. When Zepeta came to power in Colombia, Macario was appointed as "Executive General", which was essentially Zepeta's right hand man. While Zepeta ruled the country, Macario handled internal affairs and interrogations. Soon, Macario met Vanessa Rodriguez, one of the palace guards, and over time, they had an affair together and became lovers in secret. Soon after Zepeta came to power, he completely eliminated all terrorist threats, but started targeting innocent people and good metahumans, which is something Marcario didn't agree with. While Marcario wasn't a fan of Zepeta and how crazy he has become, Marcario feared for himself and Vanessa so he didn't rebel. It wasn't long before the combined efforts of USAN wrested Colombia from Zepeta, and knowing how Zepeta has gone off the deep end for a long time, Marcario brought Vanessa and Zepeta's family to USAN-controlled territory. After surrendering to USAN, he was transferred to the International Criminal Court in order to face war crime trials after Zepeta's regime has fallen. However, after being recruited by the Special Tasks Group, he and Vanessa were acquitted. Thanks to Eagle Eye, all of his data was scrubbed, and he was given the new name of Vicente Morales, and the callsign "Sandman". He was placed in Galm Team almost immediately, where he went straight to action with his new team. To this day, Macario works for STG as an intelligence agent in Galm Team.
He is currently in Lost Haven, sitting around in Carver, interrogating captured Hounds of Humanity terrorists for satellite locations.
FC: Roberto Manrique
Morena "Pixy" Carvallo Female, 33 | Bodyguard | Metahuman, Lightning Control Status: Active
Morena has control of the element of Lightning. Using ambient energy from almost all around her, she could either transform that energy into useful electricity, or turn it into a deadly bolt of lightning. Her electric abilities know no bounds (except for some scientific boundaries), where she could use lightning and electricity from anything from a personal defense weapon to an arc welder, from a phone charger to emergency power, from an EMP to a magnet creator, from a defibrillator to a light source, from loud speakers to a harmless light show (even both!). However, control of powerful lightning also has required secondary powers, as listed below. She normally uses this power with conductor gloves, which helps her focus her powers on very specific targets. Morena is almost completely immune to heat as a result of her ability to control lightning. As a result, fire doesn't do much damage on her (maybe on her tools and equipment, and if you're lucky, her clothes as well) nor does most heat based attacks. She will still incinerate if thrown to the sun, but most realistic levels of firey heat she can withstand with discomfort. Morena is completely immune to electric damage, and can absorb it and use it herself. Morena cannot be blinded by any type of flashes. Looking at the sun would still burn her eyes, but any type of flashes will do nothing to her, whether it would be from lightning, lasers, strobe lights or flashbangs. In order to get energy for her lightning, she must absorb energy from around her in order to do that. However, after some time, she was able to master the ability to absorb latent energy from the ground or from the sun, but if need be, she can focus her energy absorption from enemies as well. It's not as direct as lightning, but she can focus it in the general direction of her targets and weaken them, using their energy to power her lightning. While she has the standard weaknesses of any other human being, water could neutralize her powers if used right. However, if she dries herself off (either through normal procedures or through raising her temperature to evaporate water), she could use them normally once again.
Morena is a woman who adapts to whatever situation she's in, and brings her skills and experiences to the table in order to do so. While she's a friendly and outgoing individual, often times she finds herself in way over her head, but thanks to her perseverance, she's able to come out on top most of the time. Friendly and not willing to give up, Morena is a woman with sparks in her mind and in her heart.
Born and raised in Colombia, Vanessa lived most of her life like anyone else in the city. She discovered her powers early, and while her parents were very supportive of her, they had to keep her powers a secret lest she be exploited by third parties. Working as a waitress as a teenager, she had lost her parents to the local drug cartels, and lived in a period of grief of some time. Having been orphaned, she had to make her way in Bogota for several years, and eventually, became a soldier in the Colombian Army in order to take on the cartels. The Army discovered her metahuman abilities, and while they wanted her to work with their resources, she wanted to fight, and they couldn't say no. She proved herself a very capable soldier, and after serving for several years fighting FARC, she became a distinguished fighter, having saved the lives of many civilians and fellow soldiers and police officers, and having a decent killcount of militants and terrorists. When Zepeta vowed to destroy the cartels, Vanessa supported him, and after he came to power, she went to work in crushing them with other mixed metahuman/human squads. Due to her previous distinguished service, she was admitted into the Special Forces, where she crushed entire drug cartels and destroyed the entirety of FARC. After the enemy was destroyed and the mission was accomplished, Vanessa was at peace, and opted to join the Palace Guard. She was admitted into it, and thanks to Marcario's sexual exploits, she met him through that, and together, they fell in love. Marcario assigned her as his personal guard. Over time, however, Marcario was slowly bringing Vanessa out of her pro-Zepeta fervor (through both mental manipulation and honest speaking). It took a whole lot, but once she saw Zepeta's atrocities, she was more than willing to stay at Marcario's side (she forgave him for the mental manipulation in regards to Zepeta's atrocities). When USAN started marching into the capital, Vanessa was more than ready to leave with her lover, even if that meant going behind bars. However, after going to the ICC with him, she was recruited by the Special Tasks Group to work as an operative, and after being granted the name of Morena Carvallo and the callsign "Pixy", she went to work for them as Marcario's personal guard, sometimes participating in Galm Team as part of strikes.
She is currently in Lost Haven, particularly Carver, where she is acting guard duty for the safehouse she and Vicente are in.
FC: Thaisa Liz
Amber "Valkyrie" Williams Female, 28 | Assassin | Metahuman, Cybernetic Vampire Status: Active
Amber is not exactly what you would call a classical vampire, rather she is a strange new variant, complete with cybernetics. Her abilities include but are not limited to Smoke Transformation, Super Strength (Can Lift a Pickup and Flip a Semi), Super Speed (Not dedicated, but can run twice as fast as normal human), Spider-Climbing, Night Vision, Mind Control (Requires focus and concentration), Clinically Immortal (is immune to diseases, and is immortal through age), Super Regeneration (can regenerate any wound from mana reserves), Ash Resurrection (can be 'killed' through sufficient mana depletion or head wounds, and turns into ash for a short period of time before coming back to life), Retractable Claws, Echolocation, and "Game Face" (she bares her teeth and roars, making her a bit like a monster). Her cybernetics also include a robotic left arm that allows a bit more capability, as well as brain and eye implants that allow her to see farther and better. However, being a vampire comes with several caveats. Salt and garlic, while not lethal, can mess with her senses and give her a headache. Silver burns her, and can slow regeneration. The sun makes her feel a little uncomfortable, but thanks to her melanin levels and her Ash Vampirism, it doesn't cause problems. She's the type of vampire who isn't apt with any extra magical abilities (and thus cannot detect any kind of magic), and is just as susceptible to non-mental magical attacks as anyone else. Holy symbols can defeat her if used properly, and in order to permanently kill her, she must take wood to the heart (which is nearly impossible thanks to her frequent use of the stab-proof vest). She cannot be heard or seen in mirrors/recording equipment, and has to resort to texting/morse code. While she can consume on artificial blood, animal blood and packed/frozen blood, she prefers the blood of humans, particularly women of the consenting variety. She can also eat raw human and animal flesh as well, and while she finds it tasty, the blood that comes with it is what she survives on.
Liana's a rather casual person, and thanks to her newfound vampire abilities, she can afford to be. While she's casual in regards to herself, she still values the lives of others, and takes them and her particular line of work very seriously. Liana hasn't been around too many people, so she might act casual in the face of authorities as well. She might be quite cold (emotionally and literally) when on the job against enemies, any friend she does make she's absolutely loyal to, and with lovers, she'd die for. While she loves a good fight as anyone else, she's not the type to kill unnecessarily. She targets her marks and her marks only, and tries to minimize damage to others as much as possible. Due to her vampire tendencies, she tries to keep her feeding to a minimum, or at least feed on consensual individuals/her marks. She will also go out of her way to help others, and has proven time and time again that while she has no room for enemies in her cold still heart, it's because that room is reserved for those she cares about.
Born and raised in New York City, Liana grew up in a rough environment that really screwed up with her mind, as well as her sense of morality. When she was young, she lost her mother and brother to gang violence, as well as many friends she knew and loved as well. In turn, she was desensitized to violence, and enjoyed the idea of killing the bad men and women behind the murder of her loved ones. She grew up to become a killer, though while she retained the memories of the pain she went through when losing her family and friends to gang violence (and the fact that the NYPD were incredibly helpful), she never inflicted such pain upon the innocent or the good, and even helps them if she can (though she might go too far, like murdering an abusive spouse in one instance). Since she was 16, she was a a hitwoman for hire. She went under a strict training regimen, having learned from books and other assassins (that she later killed when she found out that they targeted innocents too). At one point, she was hired by a criminal gang to kill an NYPD police chief and his entire family, to which she responded by eliminating every single armed member of the group, and torturing their boss to death. On one of her jobs, on a hit to take out a cultist, she was captured and drugged, and was unwillingly turned into a vampire by the whole cult through a dark ritual. Not only did it make her a vampire with a variety of powers, but also an even more powerful assassin than she already was (though in the process of the ritual, she lost her left hand and forearm, leaving only a skeleton hand of sorts). Needless to say, none of the cultists survived the ordeal. However, later in her life, she was discovered by Hendrix Tactical services, and there she met Erika, where the two eventually got to know each other, and are currently in love. However, Hendrix was bought out by the Special Tasks Group, and thus Liana works for them now. She has no qualms about it, as long as she's working alongside those that she cares about.
She is currently in Lost Haven, having been temporarily transferred from her original Garuda Team to support Galm Team in their mission against the Hounds of Humanity.
Massoud has the full ability of Telekinesis, which allows him to move objects with only the will of his mind. It only has a small range, and while it does exert on his mind somewhat (as he needs to be focused), he often uses this ability for a variety of things, whether it would be to defend himself and others, disarm enemies, to fly, or to retrieve objects. Often times in combat, he uses this ability to disarm opponents and throw 'TK Punches', which are essentially normal punches but with lots of added range and power. Its only weakness is the range and the weight he can carry with this ability, only being able to lift objects as heavy as a semi-truck, and being able to use the ability within 50 meters.
Massoud is a well-educated scholar who's studied lots of English and Kurdish in order to speak with regional folks in his homeland of Iraqi Kurdistan. He's somewhat progressive for many people in the Middle East, though while he kept his political leanings to himself, he kept a whole lot of things about him to himself as he feared persecution from the various people that lived in the areas he studied. He is a rather timid but polite and once he does get along with someone, he becomes extremely loyal to them. Due to being a scholar, he's gained a habit of asking questions. While he abhorred violence of any kind, when he fought against terrorists in Iraq, he changed his view over time as he fought, witnessing the horrors that evil can bring upon the innocent. As a result, he treats those he deems evil very harshly.
Being born and raised in Iraqi Kurdistan under two Arab parents, Massoud was one of the kids that you would consider a 'nerd' in school, with his face always buried in a book. However, as he grew up, he wanted to become a librarian who helped keep books in schools and public libraries in Erbil. He discovered his superhuman abilities when he was young, but he hadn't had time to practice them in fear of persecution from those he knew. He went to study in Egypt in order to learn English and Literature, and not even a month later, he got wind of terrorists marching into Iraq, and he had to leave immediately for his home country. He joined the International Fighting Brigade, a brigade of foreign soldiers created in the wake of the terrorist group's brutality, consisting of people of many nationalities. Having met his new American friend Erika after she volunteered to help fight, the two became very close friends and were nearly inseparable. The two fought terrorists together for at least a year before IFB forced them to surrender. Deciding to use their newfound experience with their powers and combat, Massoud moved with Erika to the United States to work as security contractors in Erika's group known as Hendrix Tactical, doing many jobs around New York (including being protection detail for a werewolf named Ben). It wasn't long before Hendrix was bought out by the Special Tasks Group, where he became a specialist for the New York based Garuda Team. He continues to do work for them, mainly out of loyalty for Erika, as well as for his newfound friends in the team.
He is currently in Lost Haven, having been temporarily transferred from his original Garuda Team to support Galm Team in their mission against the Hounds of Humanity.
FC: Sammy Sheik
Erika "Phoenix" Sanchez Female, 30 | Commando | Metahuman, Super Reflexes Status: Active
Erika is a rather precise metahuman, with the ability known as Super Reflexes. This slows down time for herself and herself only, and to a considerable degree. She sees everything in slow motion, to the point where she could see bullets (they are moving insanely fast but she could still see them). This timing allows her to perform all kinds of things with the most insane reflexes, as well as perform and time everything correctly. Proper parkour, aiming a gun, bobbing and weaving in fistfightts, driving a vehicle, defusing bombs, it has all sorts of applications, which allow her to do all of these things with insane precision and accuracy, as well with great speed. Her ability of Enhanced Senses comes with the ability of fast reflexes, this allows her to see farther and clearer than most, hear things from a distance and tune her hearing, and smell things a little better than most humans can. This allows her to detect threats and clues most other humans cannot do. However, Erika is just as human as anyone else, and she cannot dodge bullets or any other fast-moving projectiles.
Erika Sanchez is a wise-cracking snarky smartass who does a little wetwork. In short, she's the type of person who would rescue someone from a fire, but steal their valuables and shoot the arsonist in the process. She's a very empathetic and caring person towards friends and those who aren't in the game, but she has no qualms of killing an offending party, especially those who already qualify for a death sentence in almost any western civilization. While she's also brave and smart, she's also somewhat anti-social, and prefers to be with at least one or two other people she could trust with her life. She's also not the type to start fights, normally keeping a calm persona about her (despite cursing in spanish many times when she's mad), and never drawing her weapons or using force unless she really has to (normally in order to end the conflict as swiftly as possible). However, due to her past life as a felon and her service in Iraq, she's had a strong distrust of governments and figures of authority. So while she's willing to cooperate with authority figures who have common sense and decency, she's not the type to take any shit from them.
Born and raised in San Diego by an alcoholic mother and an abusive father, Erika grew up learning her powers from dodging and taking blows from her drunk father whenever he came back from work. She ran away from home when she became a teenager, having ended up in a local hispanic gang where she used her powers to prove her worth and do some... 'business' for them. However, when doing a burgalary, she shot a pedophile dead, and protecting the children he held captive, she waited until the police showed up so they would be able to be safe once again. She was sentenced to prison shortly after her first kill, and served only 4 years given the circumstances and leaving on good behavior. Soon after leaving prison, Erika had a desire to atone and use her powers for good, and went to a superpowered academy with the help of some of her loyal criminal friends. However, once news of the brutal terrorist organization in Iraq played on the airwaves, Erika knew she had to do something, and was soon joining the International Fighting Brigade in Iraq to fight terrorists. She met Massoud there, and after learning about each other's powers and each other's secrets, the two hit it off quite well, and became the best of friends. After defeating the terrorist threat, Erika came back home to America with Massoud in tow, finding work as a security contractor for some time with Hendrix Tactical, a company that she formed with her best friend Darius. She had lovely affair with Amber, which grew into a long, healthy relationship. However, in recent months, Hendrix was purchased by the Special Tasks Group, where it became the New York branch of operations. Erika and her friends got a lot of money out of the deal, but she couldn't resist the thrill of the work involved, and thus stayed in STG with the rest of her friends.
She is currently in Lost Haven, having been temporarily transferred from her original Garuda Team to support Galm Team in their mission against the Hounds of Humanity.
Ellie "Dragonborn" Anderson Female, 34 | Fighter Pilot | Human, Powerless Status: Active
FC: Floor Van Montfort
Highest Power Level: City Team Alignment: Hero (Chaotic Good)
Garuda Team is one of several teams that were formed from what was then known as Hendrix Tactical Security Services, a New York City-based private security firm formed by Darius Mitchell and Erika Sanchez. However, after growing and proving their effectiveness throughout the city, STG has bought out Hendrix Tactical, and formed them into what is really just STG's New York department. While many teams are formed from Hendrix, Garuda Team was the all-star team formed from Hendrix's leaders. However, thanks to the threat the Hounds posed, many of Garuda Team's star members were transferred to assist Galm Team in defeating the Hounds in Mexico and Lost Haven, and are thus somewhat short staffed at the moment. Thankfully, Garuda Team is still open for contract...
Below are the characters who are members of Garuda Team.
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Darius "Rook" Mitchell Male, 34 | Team Commander | Human, Powerless Status: Active
Darius is a powerless individual, but he makes up for his lack of power with sheer knowledge, wit, and a steel backbone. Not much of a man of combat, Darius is a man who's much better known as a scholar, businessman or a spy, for good reason. Charismatic as all hell, Darius gets the job done whenever there's no shooting involved. He's often seen wearing a suit with the STG power-resistant ballistic vest underneath, and he carries around a Kimber Stainless TLE (.45 ACP) pistol underneath his jackets.
A good friend of Erika's ever since she moved to New York. Having lived in the same neighboorhood, they've hung out many times, to the point where Darius was periodically in Erika's gang. While 99% of their friendship consists of slinging insults at each other, most of their bond is unspoken, and there are way too many times to count where they have save each other's asses and pulled them out of the fire. They've even bailed each other out of jail a few times. While Erika was in prison, Darius spent a whole lot of time learning how to be a proper criminal and how to be a good shooter, and by the time she got out, they were quite a dynamic duo. However, when Erika went to Syria, he started to run things, and once she returned, they formed the business of Hendrix Tactical Security Services, a joint venture in which they can legally do what they normally do. However, the Special Tasks Group took notice of their success in New York, and decided to purchase them. Not wanting to the miss the taste of adventure, he remained in STG, and became the head of Garuda Team, the all-star team consisting of Hendrix's major players. He continues to run things for Garuda Team in his own... special way.
Darius is currently in New York, waiting for his best friend Erika to return.
Shafira possesses the ability to read and bend electronic signals to her will, as well as create her own. This ability, while quite useful, only allows her to detect and use such signals of what can be transmitting nearby. This allows her to hack into just about anything that is connected to the Internet, or is simply just nearby. She can understand how just about any electronic tech works, and with a little time (either by figuring it out quickly or 'reading' the manual online) she can figure out almost every facet of it. This ability makes her quite a useful asset to Garuda Team, though she was signed on as a friend and because of her history with Hendrix. Otherwise, she's a normal human being. Not much of one to go out in public, Shafira is normally unarmed, and mostly keeps to herself.
Erika's prison cellmate, Sukaina was arrested for embezzlement and hijacking Fox News signals. While she was accused of terrorism-related activity and such (with her Arab background and all), she was tried for her real crimes and given a short prison sentence. Both she and Erika got along quickly in prison, and became good friends along the way. Erika learned of her hacking skills and technopathic abilities, and convinced Sukaina to join her and Darius in her little group of friends. She performed that that role under Hendrix Tactical, doing most of the "electronic warfare" when it comes to things, whether it would be hacking, surveillance or other stuff. She's also a huge geek, and is officially Darius' secretary. However, when Hendrix was purchased, her job never necessarily changed, as she remained Darius' assistant, and continued on the electronic warfare front. While it is normally Eagle Eye's job, he simply checks in and helps every now and then while Shafira does most of the work for Garuda Team.
Raul possesses a super strength only found in more common heroes, such as being able to lift a pickup and flip over a semi truck with some exertion. This has the required secondary power of super toughness, allowing him to be able to punch things and take hits on a level that compares to his strength. However, he's otherwise somewhat vulnerable, not that Raul minded, as he just needed an edge to help him get better at his job. His powers were a result of one of many Dr. Chaos' experiments, but thankfully Raul chose the safe and proven route, and got himself some permanent super strength will very little side effects. Raul is often dressed in a suit with the STG power-resistant ballistic vest underneath, and almost always carries a Glock 21 (.45 ACP) on him. Otherwise, when working different jobs, he would wear and equip whatever is needed.
Victor is one of the only people Erika trusted when she was in the hispanic gang, when she was younger. More often then not, Victor was one of the only people that she came to when it came to gang-related matters, and he was often the one showing her the ropes. Soon after she was convicted, the gang fell apart and Victor was left without much. Darius soon made contact with him as per Erika's request, and Victor taught Darius how to be a proper thug up in the hood, and how to actually get money. After Erika was released, he helped Darius set up Hendrix Tactical, and became a key player in helping the new corporation generate revenue. A man who enjoys an earned pay (and sometimes unearned pay as well), Victor was able to get work done. Even though he was once a gangster, he was more than happy to become a mercenary, figuring it was a step up from his 'last job'. Once STG bought out Hendrix, things didn't really change for him, as he kept his job and remained in Garuda Team, working under Darius' command. To this day, he still works as the 'muscle' of Garuda Team, helping out when necessary.
Silvain has the power of Telescopic Sight, which allows him to see much farther than a normal human being would be able to. However, his eyes don't act as a telescope with a narrow field of view, they act more like eagle eyes with a larger cone of vision, and a much longer and detailed vision as well. This kind of eyesight allows him to be an incredibly competent sniper, as well as an excellent spy within the STG. With this power, he is also able to analyze details of just about anything he looks at, and with his mind, he can use proper deduction in order to figure out what is what. As such, not only is he a fantastic shot, he's also a fantastic detective. While he is a pretty good fighter, he is otherwise still normal in most other departments. He's normally wearing the [url=http://]tactical STG gear issued to him (sans mask and helmet)[/url], otherwise just wearing a shirt, a STG power-resistant ballistic vest, and some combat trousers. He's normally armed with an Accuracy International AWM (.338 Lapua) sniper rifle and a Glock 21 (.45 ACP) as well.
Born and raised in Sierra Leone, Silvain was raised as a hunter for most of his life. His mother and father, both being metahumans, made a living off of hunting, whether it would be selling hunting gear or selling the meat and pelts they got from their kills. Thanks to Sierra Leone having an accepting culture to metahumans (since Metahumans ended the civil war early and used their powers to empower the nation economically), Silvain was able to hone is abilities, and was able to do some good honest work throughout the country. On a whim, he decided to try out for STG's shooter trials, which was simply just a shooting challenge hosted by STG every year to recruit snipers into their ranks. Silvain passed with flying colors, and after being recruited into the STG, he was trained to become a very competent sniper. In turn, he earned a whole lot of money doing contracts all across Africa, and made sure to use his earnings to keep his family business running and keep his family supported. He married a woman named Agetha from South Africa in his earlier years, and when he was assigned to work with Hendrix (which later became Garuda Team), he brought her with him to New York, where they settled and did work. To this day, he continues to work as a sniper for Garuda Team, where he became an official part of the team as a sniper and a spy.
Scarlet, while completely powerless, makes up for it in fighting capability. Trained in various hand-to-hand combats, as well as in various firearms, the Ex-PLA soldier is a very experience woman when it comes down to things. Armed with only her skill and her wit, she does what she can to get the job done. Normally wearing street clothes to make herself look inconspicous, she sometimes dons the STG armor to help protect herself against metas and other combatants. Normally she carries the standard issue Glock 21 (.45 ACP), but when it comes down to it, she carries a [url=http://]Galil SAR[/url] as well.
Scarlet Chenshan was born and raised in China, where she grew up under a poor family that spent most of their time in factories. Not wanting Scarlet to live a similar fate, they put her in the People's Liberation Army instead, going to military school at a young age in order to become a career soldier. She joined the combat unit at 18, where all she did was train and train. However, she eventually got tired of living that kind of life, and escaped when she turned 24 to Pakistan, where she lived a quiet life for several years. STG was hiring in Pakistan, and after applying, she was recruited, trained and put into one of several teams that was deployed in Africa. She did work for STG for some time, going on various adventures for them, until she was recently reassigned to Garuda Team, mainly to temporarily bolster their numbers to the minimum acceptable range while some of their members are currently in Galm Team. Scarlet got along swimmingly with the others, and is currently working with them on a temporary basis, with the hopes that she will become a permanent member of Garuda Team.
Dr. Chaos is a man with a mind unlike any other. Mainly because it's insane to a crazy degree, but he's also quite the genius. Lacking in the social department, nad in other departments as well, Dr. Chaos has a mind that allows him to create just about anything, given enough time and resources. A man like Dr. Chaos is nothing without his tools, so he's often within his hidden lab in New York. His lab allows him to create just about anything Garuda Team and even STG needs, ranging from antidotes, nanomeds, to even cybernetics, robots and clones. While his genius allows him to create lots of weapons, mech suits and the like, and he can field them with great precision and competence, he's just a human otherwise.
Dr. Chaos' origins are quite unknown, as no one was able to learn about his origins. People have come up with many theories about him, saying that he was a scientist that discovered immortality long ago, or he was originally a nazi scientist, or he is actually a man who was abducted by aliens and subsequently gained their knowledge. Whatever it may be, no one knows who he truly is, and why he is like this. The only thing that people do know is that he was pulled out from somewhere and STG funds and helps him with all of his research and experiments in exchange for his allegiance (which he would happily give anyway, as he has stated to be really fond of the folks in the STG, as both specimens and individuals). Dr. Chaos is a mad scientist who's as crazy as you can get. While he isn't outright dangerously psychotic (he's far from the murderous type, in fact, his madness revolves around healing and upgrading people rather than harming them), his craziness can lead to quite a few experiments that might violate a few regulations here and there. Dr. Chaos is responsible for many of the power-enhancing therapies that helped many within the STG to tap deeper into their powers. He's also responsible for lots of the helpful tech that STG uses to help with their missions, and he's also responsible for a whole lot of research and intelligence methods that helps the STG find and recruit new members, as well as help them with their own intelligence gathering operations. Overall, this guy has used his insane abilities of science to help benefit lots of people. However, his insane genius comes at the cost of his own insanity, and often times he would create some meaningless experiments that make absolutely no sense at first but would pay off in the long run. He will run the most strangest of experiments, and once he explains their applications, some people would find out how infinitely useful the experiments would prove depending on their tests. His experiments so far have wielded two things that are ready to be field tested, which is Thunderchicken (a chicken with the lightning powers of Zeus) and the Tactical Disarming Banana (a banana capable of disabling weapons). His science has also been used to prank various people in a variety of creative fashions.
Basically, this guy could be asked for just about anything. However, be really careful around him, as he knows everything... he's gone insane as a result! He is currently in New York, doing what he normally does.
FC: Unknown Stock Photo Model
Edit 9001: Added an Edit History, and added Eagle Eye under "Supporting Characters" list. Edit 9002: Overhauled Maya's history, changing it a little to make Maya a much more flexible character. Also added some resources, including but not limited to a Helodrone. Also changed Maya's weakness to make it more clear. Edit 9003: Changed up colors, added a little more stuff for Eagle Eye. Edit 9004: Added 2 new characters and a faction, changed up Resources in Cipher, tidied up the uniforms, fixed a few errors, and made the powers a little clearer. Changed up theme songs, and clarified a few backstory issues. Changed Cipher's personality to better fit what was shown in the introduction post. Added "Status" infomation for each character. Edit 9005: Added posting pictures as preview portraits for each character. Also added origins and personality to both Sandman and Pixy, and clarified alignments. Edit 9006: Updated formatting. Edit 9007: Edited characters under [REDACTED]. Edit 9008: Changed character colors for [REDACTED] and added 2 more NPCs under their name. Edit 9009: Changed the name of REDACTED to that of Papa-Sierra, revealed their true emblem, and updated Mr. Smith and Valkyrie with their true nature. Edit 9010: Changed up equipment templates and fixed a few errors. Changed equipment themselves as well. Also changed up Papa Sierra's general outfit motif. Edit 9011: Fixed URLs. Edit 9012: Changed the McMillan Tac-50 to the Accuracy International AWM rifle, and fixed URLs again. Edit 9013: Removed all of the protagonists, and elevated Eagle Eye to PC status. Edit 9014: Made lots of changes to Papa-Sierra, gave them some more backstory, and added hyphens to the Papa-Sierras in the edit history as an anti-replace flag for when I ultimately reveal their true name. Edit 9015: Added Galm Team and sorted out the NPCs in it. Edit 9016: Made huge changes, such as making Papa-Sierra into the Special Tasks Group... at least, publicly. I changed PS into a very powerful mercenary group instead of some nebulous UN organization, so that way I would have more creative freedom, and I will have less plot issues this way. I changed up the armaments as a result of this, and changed a variety of other things as well. I edited all references accordingly as well. Edit 9017: Filled in most of the backstories for Galm Team operatives by slapping together stuff from their old CSes. I'll clean them up later. Also added in Garuda Team. Also edited roles. Edit 9018: Filled in and edited backstories for Garuda Team, as well as their powers. Changed up STG's equipment a little. Completed the rough draft of this sheet.
EDIT: I completed the rough draft of this CS so, uhm, NPC powers and backstories are listed now too. :)
The pair of F-15C Eagle fighters remained in the sky. High above of the city of Lost Haven, one woman manned the lead F-15, while the second Eagle was piloted by a small combat AI pod that can act independently. However, the second Eagle was controlled by none other than Eagle Eye, the hyper-advanced sentient intelligence platform that has been nothing short of helpful to those within the organization very few know as Papa Sierra. The Dove Shield emblem, complete with PS initials, are plastered on the vertical stabilizers, as well as that of the wings. While normally F-15s would belong to the USAF in some capacity (or even the Israelis and Saudis), there was no clear distinction of nations on the plane, just a small amount of numbers, and a small silver dove plastered on the wings where the USAF emblem would be.
Both Eagles are armed with a large payload, with Dragonborn's F-15 armed with a dozen air-to-air missiles, two machine gun pods, and the large Anti-Satellite missile attached to the belly of the fighter. Eagle Eye's F-15, however, is similarly armed with some air-to-air missiles, as well as a very similar ASAT missile, but instead of machine gun pods, there were two circular modules with large batteries attached to them. Both fighters were upgraded with advanced avionics and powerful batteries, with a plethora of goodies that aren't seen mounted on the external hardpoints. While these planes were far from stealthy, they were the some of the fastest and sturdiest planes known on the planet.
Dragonborn waited quietly as she flew in formation with Eagle Eye. She sighed, taking off her mask as she relaxed in the cabin. "I swear to Christ, we're gonna run out of fuel before those bastards down there reveal the satellite."
"Patience, Dragonborn." Eagle Eye spoke through private comms. "We just learned that the enemy has been deploying captured STRIKE tech, and are in the hands of a vast array of classified advanced weaponry. I'm in the process of analyzing it all as I speak."
Dragonborn looked up to the dark sky again. "Well, if I'm gonna be honest with you, I'd love to just swoop down there and kill some time by flying close air support for the good guys in uhm... Sherman Square." Dragonborn said. "It'd be a whole lot of fun to destroy these mechs and helicopters." Dragonborn said, fantasizing the idea of just doing strafing runs on the Hounds.
"Unfortunately that is not an option right now. We are only armed for air-to-air and anti-satellite combat. Sit tight, okay? We got this."
Dragonborn sighed. "Righto..." She then looked at her radar, which displayed several blips. "Uhm... are you seeing this?"
"Indeed I am, Dragonborn. There's a large contingent of bogeys heading towards Lost Haven. Some of them are heading towards the city... though at least four appear to be on an intercept vector towards us." Eagle Eye explained. "So far none of them is attacking any Papa Sierra entities. They appear to be some prototype fighter design too, but a rather slow one armed with lots of weaponry."
Dragonborn sighed, turning the aircraft towards the source of radar blips, on an approach heading straight towards them at a slow speed. "Shouldn't the Air National Guard be here by now? I'd love to have some American F-16s fly by our side on this."
"There are two squadrons of USAF F-16s inbound to secure this airspace, and they will arrive in about an hour. They have just completed a sortie against a Hound contingent in Vermont." There was a brief pause before Eagle Eye spoke again. "FC targeting from the craft. They're bandits."
Dragonborn smirked. "Copy that~" Dragonborn sang, excited to finally get some action. She then flipped a few switches in her cockpit. "Arming AAMs hot." The 20mm rotary Vulcan Cannons began spinning in their machine gun pods, ready to fire. "Vulcan Cannon armed hot." Dragonborn smirked, activating the radar targeting system. "Eagle Eye, play that one song that I've been saving for this very moment." Dragonborn then brought her sun visor down, covering her entire face, and activating the HUD inside her helmet. "Awaiting your magic words~."
Eagle Eye pretended to clear his throat before speaking through the comms. "Cleared to engage."
"Komodo 1, engage!" Dragonborn activated her thrusters, and her fighter surged forward. There were only four hostile fighters on radar, and she was getting a light indicator warning her of FC targeting from said craft. She simply didn't care, she simply just armed her missiles hot, and waited for hostile aircraft to climb up to her level.
"Komodo 2 engage." Eagle Eye's craft broke formation and spread out, also arming anti-air weapons hot. They were heading straight towards the Hounds fighters head on, and they didn't seem to be afraid.
"We've been detected, and they are on approach to attack. Should be two Air Force F-16s. Destroy them before they become a hindrance to our operation in the city." The Hounds pilots said over the radio, and while their comms were encrypted, it was an easy break for Eagle Eye, who transmitted them to Dragonborn effortlessly.
Dragonborn snrked. "Air Force F-16s? Boy are you in for a surprise." A light went red and gave a sine buzz, and Dragonborn pressed a red button on her control stick, which let loose a radar-guided Anti-Air missile. It fired quickly, and sped off into the dark yonder. "Komodo 1, Fox 1."
"Missile, evade! Eva-" The enemy's transmissions was cut off by fuzz as a very distant explosion was spotted among the clouds.
"Splash one bandit, kill confirmed. Eagle Eye said before firing his missile from his F-15 into the cloudy yonder ahead. "Komodo 2, Fox 1." A few seconds later, another distant explosion. "Komodo 2, splash one."
"What the... they're using radar guided missiles! Two of ours have already went down!" A Hounds fighter groaned. "This is Red 3! Grey squadron, back us up!" "Roger that, Gray Squadron inbound to help."
"Sweet, this should get interesti-" Dragonborn then received a missile alert, where one of the two Hound fighters directly ahead of her launched a barrage of guided rockets her way. "I got this one..." Dragonborn immediately inverted and dove underneath the clouds, and immediately enabled her built-in ECM pod, making the flurry of rockets that went her way go stupid and just go screaming towards the Atlantic. Bringing her F-15 back above the clouds, she saw the two Hounds fighters pass her on either side of her and break formation.
The Hounds fighters appeared rather different, and they had some strange repaint jobs on them. They were armed to the teeth with rockets and missiles, and they appeared to be very threatening machines of war. Dragonborn got a good look at one of them, and wondered to herself why STRIKE would ever need such a silly thing when there are perfectly good F-15s laying around that need love. Oh well, prototype fighters such as that are probably still in the very first stages of deployment, so its most likely that the pilots are either green, or just don't know how to fly these things too well. Too bad Dragonborn and Eagle Eye were nearly the definition of Eagle Riders.
Dragonborn performed a sharp High-G turn, air being shattered within the wake of Komodo 1's jet. Dragonborn was nearly crushed by the force of the turn, but she was able to pull through. The Hound fighters had a hard time turning around, which made them easy prey from being hit in the back. Didn't help that they were slow too. It was almost as if they were dedicated ground-attack aircraft, which were perfect prey for a dedicated fighter. Instead of squandering a missile on her quarry, Dragonborn instead armed her Vulcan Cannons, and used her HUD to give her a firing solution. She aimed her gun pods at the spot ahead of the fighter that was banking, and let the guns spin.
BRRRRRTTTT! A long burst of fire from three 20mm machine guns fired and almost all of the bullets sunk into the fighter, tearing it to pieces, causing it to catch fire and fall. "Yeah! Splash one bandit!" And then it exploded. Dragonborn couldn't help but smirk at that.
"Grey Squadron, where are you!? We're getting torn to shreds he-" A Hound shouted over the radio before he was interrupted by a loud background noise. "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Red 4, I've been hit hard! I'm bailing o-" Then static.
"Komodo 2, splash one." Eagle Eye said calmly. "And before you ask, I didn't fire a second shot. The aircraft exploded on its own."
Dragonborn shrugged. "Not that I cared if you did. They all have it coming." Dragonborn said, turning her plane towards the wave of reinforcements, that came in the form of 8 aircraft in an even V formation. "I would've minded if it was just some dude doing his job at an enemy country but... this is a bit different." Dragonborn explained, arming her radar-guided missiles hot. "Ready to dive into the storm?" Dragonborn asked, grinning a little.
"Always happy to dive in with you." The AI said over the comms, Eagle Eye's F-15 quickly rejoining Dragonborn's side.
Dragonborn smirked, and looked ahead. She already got a lock-on, and enabling a multi-target lock, she decided to take on the two fighters that were grouped up next to each other. She locked onto them with both missiles, and while the radar-guided missiles needed her to keep them within a specific field, she kept her vector and fired two of them at one target each, letting the missiles soar ahead of her. "Komodo one, fox one double."
She still had a radar lock, and she waited. Boom. One down. Boom. Two down. Small smokey explosions in the distance indicated two destroyed fighters, as well as the panicked responses from some of the more inexperienced Hounds pilots. They promptly returned fire towards Dragonborn once she was in range of their smart rockets. There was a large flurry of them!
"Missile alert, break right." Eagle Eye warned.
Dragonborn immediately pulled up and towards the right, attempting to pull a High-G move in order to evade the plethora of smaller guided rockets fired from the six remaining Grey Squadron craft that flew to intercept them. They were quite smart, and using her built-in ECM pod, she was able to disable their guidance tech, and make them harmlessly fly away. Dragonborn had a hard time getting her plane back after jinking pretty hard, having slowed down a bit during that turn, loosing a lot of energy and speed. This made her quite vulnerable to a second attack, and once Dragonborn realized this, she engaged her thrusters and flew in a different direction. "Eagle Eye! How are you doing?"
"I'm doing excellently, I've already splashed a bandit using my laser defense system." Eagle Eye said, to which Dragonborn watched from afar. She saw the bright red beams shoot out from Eagle Eye's F-15, destroying any missile that came close to his jet, as well as destroying another jet by a well-placed laser shot towards an analyzed weak point, which caused the craft to burst into flames and lose power, falling towards the ocean. "Komodo 2, splash one."
"Kill confirmed. Nice work." Dragonborn said before she realized that she invited herself to attack from behind. "Oh shit, I got one on my six." Dragonborn said, engaging some automatic countermeasures and the thrust, pulling up to head straight into the sky. "Don't bother going after this asshole, I wanna try something out."
"It's only been a couple of minutes, how come we've lost so many planes!?" A Hounds fighter shouted over the radio. "It's just two fighters!"
"I got this one in my sights!" Another Hounds fighter said through the radio, chasing Dragonborn up into the sky.
Dragonborn focused on climbing before a red beam shot past her! "What the f- SHIT!" Another red beam shot past her, causing her to bank slightly. Some part of her left wing was burned from it, but it seemed to be working normally. "Komodo One, slight cosmetic damage! Doing fine though!"
"Are you sure you don't want me to go after him?" Eagle Eye asked, as he was in the process of being pursued by a Hounds fighter himself.
"Only after I reach the service cieling! I wanna see how high these STRIKE planes can go!" Dragonborn banked from side to side, making it more difficult for the slower aircraft behind her to get a killshot. It proceeded to fire several smart rockets at her, which again, went dumb from her ECM, which jammed the rockets and caused them to go every which way, anywhere else than Dragonborn.
"The Electronic Counter Measure Pods are making you lazy, Dragonborn." Eagle Eye teased.
"Better than dumping flares." Dragonborn chuckled before blinking, seeing the stars and space quite clearly at this point, and feeling her aircraft slow down. "Oh shit, I think I'm at the-" BUZZ! BUZZ! Stall Warning! "Yup."
Dragonborn's F-15 was very high up in the atmosphere, where there was barely any air at all. Dragonborn can clearly see space from here, but she didn't exactly leave Earth's gravitational pull. And with the freezing temperatures of space, the canopy and some of her plane has iced up, and her engines have stopped. However, at this point, she could see the Ex-STRIKE fighter having already stalled some time ago, desperately trying to get the engines running again. Both of them were at free fall at this point, and Dragonborn can see her altimeter going nuts from how fast she was falling. Dragonborn got her plane in an optimal position, and as air started to rush in and the plane started getting warmer, Dragonborn had a clear shot at the freefalling plane. The Eagle's engines soon went back online, and with a clear avenue of firing, Dragonborn let loose on the three Vulcan Cannons, a long BRRRTTTTT!!! to make sure that the Hound fighter below her was blown to bits. BOOOM!!! "Splash one!" Dragonborn called out as she gleefully flew past the shattered wreckage of the enemy fighter, before she pulled up and resumed flying normally. "Damn..." Dragonborn panted a little after experiencing all of the Gs involved in the manuevers she pulled, feeling a little lightheaded from all of that. "...Eagle Eye? What's our status?"
"All hostiles in the area have been neutralized." Eagle Eye said. "I would humbly suggest you to rejoin our formation... and take a breather? And stop doing manuevers like that?"
Dragonborn chuckled. "Well now we know how to take these fuckers out if we ever get cornered by 'em... emphasis on if." Dragonborn sighed. "That was fun... hadn't had fight like this in years. Been so used to flying the Strike Eagles." Dragonborn said with a soft smirk, raising her visor and taking off her oxygen mask, revealing her face. "Can't wait 'till those cowards reveal that damned satellite."
Eagle Eye flew right beside Dragonborn, joining her at her 'hip.' "I share that sentiment. The less innocent lives lost, the better."
Dragonborn thought about it. "But what if it isn't even here?" Dragonborn asked, thinking a little. "What if that blast radius was just a red herring?"
Eagle Eye moved up a little to be side-by-side with Dragonborn. "I sincerely doubt if that's the case. Lost Haven is an area well known to foster metahuman activity... and it has been the target of countless of Hounds attacks. If the satellite were to attack anywhere, it would be here." Eagle Eye explained. "If the satellite was not here, but was revealed elsewhere, I know just the right anti-satellite missile systems to hack."
Dragonborn nodded. "Yeah... maybe you're right. Fingers crossed that it doesn't have any bullshit defenses, other than that cloaking tech. Seriously, that's insanely stupid." Dragonborn sighed. "How are we on fuel reserves?"
Eagle Eye remained silent for just a moment. "We should be able to remain in the air for at least another few hours."