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[Mutants & Masterminds] A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic
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<blockquote data-quote="Davies" data-source="post: 8242183" data-attributes="member: 30538"><p><span style="font-size: 26px"><span style="color: red">Blossom</span></span></p><p><img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-XpKrDqs/0/3df25cf2/S/6l3tari1cgy21-S.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Supposedly, there was a school of thought that held that an assassin should learn to use a rifle first, because it let them keep their distance from what was referred to as 'the client'. The closer one got to becoming a professional, the closer one would be able to get to the client, with the knife being the last tool to be learned. Of course, that curriculum ignored the possibility that there could be people fully able to service the client without any weapons at all.</p><p></p><p>Nevertheless, that training process was followed by those who sculpted Rachel Allen into an assassin, starting when she was fourteen years old. Or was she thirteen? She's often suspected that the birthdate that was entered into the system for her in Hong Kong's foster care system was a child was either a mistake or a lie. It's not really important to her, and it certainly wasn't important to the people who trained her. In any event, after two years, they deemed her ready to carry out her first hit.</p><p></p><p>For whatever reason, her mentors decided to make sure that she understood the reason for the hit. (She thinks maybe they'd heard too many stories about Koschei the Deathless.) There was this rich idiot in England who'd screwed over a different rich idiot in Japan, and the fact that the first rich idiot was in prison now didn't soothe any hurt feelings. So she was going to rub out the first rich idiot's daughter and get paid for doing so by the second rich idiot. Rachel didn't really give a crap about any of this, of course.</p><p></p><p>So she took up a sniper position and waited for the client to take a walk through a public park. It was a bit of a surprise that the client wasn't alone, but rather accompanied by an older woman. Apparently, it was perfectly okay for there to be witnesses. Go fig! Rachel lined up the shot, and waited for the perfect moment, watching the two women talking with each other ... and then something went wrong. Just as her finger was tightening on the trigger, the older woman tensed up, as though somehow aware of what was happening, but before Rachel could stop pulling the trigger, the old woman threw herself in front of the client, so that the bullet that shot forth from the rifle's barrel took her in the chest, instead of the target.</p><p></p><p>Rachel managed to keep enough of her wits about her to make her exfiltration and get picked up, fully expecting to be punished for this screw-up even though it wasn't her fault. To her surprise, the mentors were okay with how it had worked out. Turned out that killing the first rich idiot's ex-mistress would send just as good of a message. <em>Huh,</em> she thought. <em>So that was her mom. Her mom took the bullet for her.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Why'd she do that, though?</em> </p><p></p><p>That bewildering question stayed with her through all the years of much more satisfactory operations, as she grew better and better at killing people. Never in all that time did she ever see anyone deliberately and consciously choose death on behalf of someone else. People sometimes begged for their lives, and sometimes they even begged for other people to be spared. (That usually amused her, particularly when those other people weren't part of the contract, but mostly it was just annoying.)</p><p></p><p>When she and her first client, now calling herself Megan Excalibur, met again, it was almost an accident. She'd been hired for bodyguard duty for the first time, and her client -- heh -- was being haunted, and had enough pull to get the Ghost Sweepers called in to sweep up the ghost. Blossom, as she was now calling herself, recognized the other woman despite how much Excalibur had changed her look over the last five years, but the reverse was not true. She found herself antagonizing Excalibur all the same, enjoying her ignorance.</p><p></p><p>The good times never last, though. She ended up taking a shot at the guy who was faking the haunting with her rifle, and this time another one of Excalibur's allies prevented the shot from hitting home. When Blossom complained about it, all the pieces finally fell into place for Excalibur. They ended up fighting what could perhaps be called a duel, Excalibur with that damned long sword of hers, Blossom with just her bare hands.</p><p></p><p>When it ended, Blossom was on her back, staring up at the other woman who had nothing but murder in her eyes. But when Excalibur demanded to know why she'd murdered her mother, all that Blossom could do was laugh, then tell her client the truth, and, in what she expected to be her final act, asked why her mother had saved her like that. Excalibur stared at her. "She was my mother," she said.</p><p></p><p>"What's that got to do with anything?" Blossom nearly howled. It was the same irrelevancy that she'd been told the first time she'd asked, for crying out loud!</p><p></p><p>A long moment passed, then Excalibur put her sword away and turned her back on her opponent. "I won't kill you," she said without looking back. "It would neither bring back my mother, nor anyone else you've killed. It wouldn't even spare those you might kill in the future, for your employers would just find someone else to do the job. And, ultimately, you're already dead in every way that matters."</p><p></p><p>Frustrated, and now out of a job because of the way that she'd witnessed her employer's humiliation, Blossom has refused to let that be the end of it all. One way or another, she's going to force a different conclusion to the story of the two of them. She has clashed with Megan Excalibur and the Ghost Sweepers twice since then, constantly trying to get Excalibur to fight with the deadly intent that she showed that first time. Or any emotion other than the disgust and contempt she always displays when Blossom shows up.</p><p></p><p>But really, even that is more than she's ever gotten from anyone else.</p><p></p><p><strong>Blossom -- PL 8</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Abilities:</strong></p><p><strong>STR</strong> 2 | <strong>STA</strong> 2 | <strong>AGL</strong> 3 | <strong>DEX</strong> 3 | <strong>FGT</strong> 6 | <strong>INT</strong> 1 | <strong>AWE</strong> 2 | <strong>PRE</strong> 3</p><p></p><p><strong>Powers:</strong></p><p><strong><em>Striking Strength:</em></strong> Strength-based Damage 1 - 1 point</p><p></p><p><strong>Advantages:</strong></p><p>Accurate Attack, Assessment, Benefit (Alternate Identity), Close Attack 2, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 6, Evasion 2, Fast Grab, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (sniper rifle), Improved Critical (unarmed), Improved Initiative, Language 3 (Cantonese, Japanese, Spanish, others), Power Attack, Precise Attack 4 (Close and Ranged; Cover and Concealment), Ranged Attack 2, Takedown, Uncanny Dodge.</p><p></p><p><em>Equipment:</em></p><p>Sniper Rifle (Ranged Damage 5, Accurate, Improved Critical) and 18 points of equipment as neeeded.</p><p></p><p><strong>Skills:</strong></p><p>Acrobatics 6 (+9), Athletics 5 (+7), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+10), Deception 5 (+8), Expertise: Criminal 5 (+6), Expertise: Streetwise 7 (+8), Insight 4 (+6), Intimidation 6 (+9), Perception 8 (+10), Ranged Combat: Guns 4 (+7), Stealth 8 (+11), Technology 5 (+6), Vehicles 5 (+8).</p><p></p><p><strong>Offense:</strong></p><p>Initiative +7</p><p>Unarmed +12 (Close Damage 3, Crit 19-20)</p><p>Sniper Rifle +11 (Ranged Damage 5, Crit 18-20)</p><p></p><p><strong>Defense:</strong></p><p>Dodge 11, Parry 10, Fortitude 5, Toughness 4/2, Will 7</p><p></p><p><strong>Totals:</strong></p><p>Abilities 44 + Powers 1 + Advantages 32 + Skills 36 + Defenses 20 = 133 points</p><p></p><p><strong>Complications:</strong></p><p><strong><em>Psychopathy--Motivation. Obsession</em></strong> (Megan Excalibur.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Davies, post: 8242183, member: 30538"] [size=150][color=red]Blossom[/color][/size] [img]https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-XpKrDqs/0/3df25cf2/S/6l3tari1cgy21-S.jpg[/img] Supposedly, there was a school of thought that held that an assassin should learn to use a rifle first, because it let them keep their distance from what was referred to as 'the client'. The closer one got to becoming a professional, the closer one would be able to get to the client, with the knife being the last tool to be learned. Of course, that curriculum ignored the possibility that there could be people fully able to service the client without any weapons at all. Nevertheless, that training process was followed by those who sculpted Rachel Allen into an assassin, starting when she was fourteen years old. Or was she thirteen? She's often suspected that the birthdate that was entered into the system for her in Hong Kong's foster care system was a child was either a mistake or a lie. It's not really important to her, and it certainly wasn't important to the people who trained her. In any event, after two years, they deemed her ready to carry out her first hit. For whatever reason, her mentors decided to make sure that she understood the reason for the hit. (She thinks maybe they'd heard too many stories about Koschei the Deathless.) There was this rich idiot in England who'd screwed over a different rich idiot in Japan, and the fact that the first rich idiot was in prison now didn't soothe any hurt feelings. So she was going to rub out the first rich idiot's daughter and get paid for doing so by the second rich idiot. Rachel didn't really give a crap about any of this, of course. So she took up a sniper position and waited for the client to take a walk through a public park. It was a bit of a surprise that the client wasn't alone, but rather accompanied by an older woman. Apparently, it was perfectly okay for there to be witnesses. Go fig! Rachel lined up the shot, and waited for the perfect moment, watching the two women talking with each other ... and then something went wrong. Just as her finger was tightening on the trigger, the older woman tensed up, as though somehow aware of what was happening, but before Rachel could stop pulling the trigger, the old woman threw herself in front of the client, so that the bullet that shot forth from the rifle's barrel took her in the chest, instead of the target. Rachel managed to keep enough of her wits about her to make her exfiltration and get picked up, fully expecting to be punished for this screw-up even though it wasn't her fault. To her surprise, the mentors were okay with how it had worked out. Turned out that killing the first rich idiot's ex-mistress would send just as good of a message. [i]Huh,[/i] she thought. [i]So that was her mom. Her mom took the bullet for her. Why'd she do that, though?[/i] That bewildering question stayed with her through all the years of much more satisfactory operations, as she grew better and better at killing people. Never in all that time did she ever see anyone deliberately and consciously choose death on behalf of someone else. People sometimes begged for their lives, and sometimes they even begged for other people to be spared. (That usually amused her, particularly when those other people weren't part of the contract, but mostly it was just annoying.) When she and her first client, now calling herself Megan Excalibur, met again, it was almost an accident. She'd been hired for bodyguard duty for the first time, and her client -- heh -- was being haunted, and had enough pull to get the Ghost Sweepers called in to sweep up the ghost. Blossom, as she was now calling herself, recognized the other woman despite how much Excalibur had changed her look over the last five years, but the reverse was not true. She found herself antagonizing Excalibur all the same, enjoying her ignorance. The good times never last, though. She ended up taking a shot at the guy who was faking the haunting with her rifle, and this time another one of Excalibur's allies prevented the shot from hitting home. When Blossom complained about it, all the pieces finally fell into place for Excalibur. They ended up fighting what could perhaps be called a duel, Excalibur with that damned long sword of hers, Blossom with just her bare hands. When it ended, Blossom was on her back, staring up at the other woman who had nothing but murder in her eyes. But when Excalibur demanded to know why she'd murdered her mother, all that Blossom could do was laugh, then tell her client the truth, and, in what she expected to be her final act, asked why her mother had saved her like that. Excalibur stared at her. "She was my mother," she said. "What's that got to do with anything?" Blossom nearly howled. It was the same irrelevancy that she'd been told the first time she'd asked, for crying out loud! A long moment passed, then Excalibur put her sword away and turned her back on her opponent. "I won't kill you," she said without looking back. "It would neither bring back my mother, nor anyone else you've killed. It wouldn't even spare those you might kill in the future, for your employers would just find someone else to do the job. And, ultimately, you're already dead in every way that matters." Frustrated, and now out of a job because of the way that she'd witnessed her employer's humiliation, Blossom has refused to let that be the end of it all. One way or another, she's going to force a different conclusion to the story of the two of them. She has clashed with Megan Excalibur and the Ghost Sweepers twice since then, constantly trying to get Excalibur to fight with the deadly intent that she showed that first time. Or any emotion other than the disgust and contempt she always displays when Blossom shows up. But really, even that is more than she's ever gotten from anyone else. [b]Blossom -- PL 8 Abilities: STR[/b] 2 | [b]STA[/b] 2 | [b]AGL[/b] 3 | [b]DEX[/b] 3 | [b]FGT[/b] 6 | [b]INT[/b] 1 | [b]AWE[/b] 2 | [b]PRE[/b] 3 [b]Powers: [i]Striking Strength:[/i][/b] Strength-based Damage 1 - 1 point [b]Advantages:[/b] Accurate Attack, Assessment, Benefit (Alternate Identity), Close Attack 2, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 6, Evasion 2, Fast Grab, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (sniper rifle), Improved Critical (unarmed), Improved Initiative, Language 3 (Cantonese, Japanese, Spanish, others), Power Attack, Precise Attack 4 (Close and Ranged; Cover and Concealment), Ranged Attack 2, Takedown, Uncanny Dodge. [i]Equipment:[/i] Sniper Rifle (Ranged Damage 5, Accurate, Improved Critical) and 18 points of equipment as neeeded. [b]Skills:[/b] Acrobatics 6 (+9), Athletics 5 (+7), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+10), Deception 5 (+8), Expertise: Criminal 5 (+6), Expertise: Streetwise 7 (+8), Insight 4 (+6), Intimidation 6 (+9), Perception 8 (+10), Ranged Combat: Guns 4 (+7), Stealth 8 (+11), Technology 5 (+6), Vehicles 5 (+8). [b]Offense:[/b] Initiative +7 Unarmed +12 (Close Damage 3, Crit 19-20) Sniper Rifle +11 (Ranged Damage 5, Crit 18-20) [b]Defense:[/b] Dodge 11, Parry 10, Fortitude 5, Toughness 4/2, Will 7 [b]Totals:[/b] Abilities 44 + Powers 1 + Advantages 32 + Skills 36 + Defenses 20 = 133 points [b]Complications: [i]Psychopathy--Motivation. Obsession[/i][/b] (Megan Excalibur.) [/QUOTE]
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