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Post by Huntress on Jan 25, 2017 3:38:51 GMT
HUNTRESS
Real Name: Helena Rosa Bertinelli
Alias: Huntress
Identity: Secret
Age: 25
Species: Human
Physical Appearance: Helena stands 5'11" and weighs 130lbs. She has long, wavy black hair and blue eyes. She is in peak physical condition and considered to be attractive.
When in civvies, Helena usually wears jeans, a dark shirt (sometimes a turtleneck) and a black leather jacket. She is very sensible and wears sneakers. She often wears sunglasses when she wishes to keep hidden.
When out 'on the job', she wears a dark purple and black catsuit made of kevlar weave and has additional protective plates along the torso, arms, and legs. She wears a mask that is magically capable of keeping her identity a secret, god only knows how. She also wears big stompy combat boots that she uses to kick people really hard. The whole ensemble is finished with a black/purple cape and a utility belt.
Whether in costume or out of it, she always wears a golden cross.
Personality: Helena is no-nonsense, driven, and dedicated to her cause. She is straightforward and will always be darker than her other heroine compatriots. She absolutely hates being treated as unimportant or told she's not competent purely because she is a woman. She has a wry manner of speaking, and conducts herself coolly at all times. Even when she's beating a mob boss to a pulp, she keeps her wits about her. Helena isn't very talkative, only speaking when she has something to add.
Helena is also rash and hot-blooded -- she tends to pistol-whip first and count bodies later. She will not hesitate to use lethal force and has done so often in the past. She's always diving into situations without thinking and letting her hate and rage drive her. She has quite a temper on her and it often comes out explosively; luckily, it's usually aimed at the bad guys. However, right before she actually kills someone, she goes dead calm.
Helena is always driven by a cold fury directed at organized crime, namely Mafia. This state of perpetual and tightly controlled anger defines her person in every way, right down to the way she dresses. It is a very personal vendetta. As such, she is a loner and asks for help only with great difficulty. She is not above maiming, brutalizing or killing people she feels deserves it.
Even her friendships have an air of business to them. While she is incredibly loyal to Black Canary, the two are often at odds because of Helena's brutal and even fatal methods. Often, Helena lets her friends stop her from killing someone because she knows if she didn't, they wouldn't want to work with her. That said, she will do the incredibly brutal work so that her friends won't have to compromise their ideals. She is highly protective of her friends, despite their sometimes vitriolic banter. She is incredibly loyal to her friends and enjoys spending time with the BoP.... just not too much time. Even though she'll always be the one with the dry sarcasm on a 'girls night', at least she's there.
She does not handle teasing very well, but that depends on who its from. Questioning her methods or honor makes her very hostile and defensive very quickly. She has a sharp and poisonous tongue and is not afraid to use it.
Helena likes children, as evidenced by her day job as a teacher. She has a soft spot for them and is very patient with even the most struggling student. Therefore, she has absolutely no tolerance for any violence directed at children. Child crime and violence is guaranteed to send her into a rage.
Helena is a devout Catholic and often considers/quotes passages from the Bible.
Abilities:
- Peak Physical Condition: Huntress works hard to keep her body in peak physical condition. She stated her costume change to include more skin was a result of her 300 ab crunches a day.
- Archery Mastery: Huntress carries her trademark crossbows on her at all times. Whether they're dual mounted mini-crossbows or one large crossbow is up to her as she has proficiency to use both.
- Martial Arts Mastery: Huntress is very much a street fighter, before honing her skills in martial arts and kung fu she spent many years getting into intentional fights just to prove and test her mettle. She has since fine-tuned her skill after years of work with Black Canary. She prefers to use Dragon style kung fu. She is also capable in stick and staff fighting.
- Criminology: Huntress grew up in a criminal environment and later spent a few years surrounded by gangs and criminals. If there ever was a street-wise hero who stayed on the straight and narrow it would be her.
- Driving: Huntress is an effective driver, able to pilot the Batmobile in high stress and combat situations as well as her own motorcycle at varying degrees of above-average driving situations (being shot at, accelerating to high speeds and over semi-separated bridges).
- Firearms Proficiency: During her work, she's realized that a crossbow isn't always a viable or powerful enough option. She has expanded her arsenal to include firearms, though not to the degree of proficiency she has with bows.
- Investigation: Helena has received praise from Batman himself for her investigative skills. She is credited as the "Batman" of the Birds of Prey team and regularly spends her free-time solving cold cases especially when the Mafia is involved.
- Multilingual: She is fluent in English and Italian and Latin; conversational in Spanish (Mexican).
- Stealth: She can be very stealthy.... when she needs to. She is capable of sneaking into a facility to get what she needs, though she often prefers to fight her way in.
- Throwing: A skill she learned from her mob-assassin cousin. Helena is very proficient with throwing weapons, both in using them and snatching them out of the air.
- Hunting/Tracking: Outside of the urban jungle, Huntress is a capable hunter, able to supply herself with fresh meat to sustain herself.
Weapons/Equipment:
- Hand Crossbows: Huntress uses one or two smaller hand crossbows with collapsible arms for easy carry. They are of her own design and have a reloader built in, allowing her to rapidly fire bolts in quick succession.
- Crossbow: This larger crossbow is more powerful and can shoot farther.
- Collapsible Staff: This collapsible, metal staff is a simple weapon and easy to carry.
- Utility Belt: This tough, wire-reinforced belt carries some simple tools necessary for her investigations and crime fighting. It includes a small flashlight, extra bolts, glass cutter, and a first aid kit, among other things.
- Combat Knife: Simple and easy to use.
- 9mm Handguns: When needed, Helena is not above using handguns to get the job done. She carries two handguns, each loading 17 rounds per magazine.
- Motorcycle: Huntress has a custom motorcycle. It is armored and painted in purple with gold crosses.
History:
Helena grew up in a mafia household. When she was 8 years old, an assassin murdered her whole family while they were eating dinner. The hitman then took her gold cross and left. She was sent to live with her Uncle Tomasso in Italy, where the mafia had more power in the old country. She became very close with her cousin, Salvatore, who was training to be a mob assassin. Seeing that Helena was struggling to recover from her trauma, her cousin trained her in combat, saying the only way she could get better is by stopping the people that ruined her life.
She was sent to boarding school in Switzerland for protection when the Italian authorities were closing in on her host family. While there, she discovered just how much violence and corruption the Mafia was responsible for and that everything she'd been told about it was a lie. Armed with this knowledge, Helena found a new purpose: To destroy the corrupt criminal organizations that had destroyed her life and family.
When Helena came of age to claim her inheritance, several powerful figures of the mob tried to take most of her money. She sorted out the group behind it, killed the man -- Mandragora -- that ordered the hit on her family and claimed the 300 million that rightfully belonged to her. This mission brought her to Gotham, the former home of the Bertinelli family, and as she hunted down those that were trying to swindle her, she encountered Batman, Batgirl and Catwoman.
At first, she suspected Bruce Wayne of being a 'dirty businessman' when he was actually courting mafia deals in order to gather evidence. She attacked him for information, but Bruce had to play 'dumb' to protect his identity. Batgirl (Barbara) came to his rescue, who Helena managed to beat. Later on, as Helena was leaving the scene of a crime, she encounter Batman, who, frankly, kicked her ass. When Helena finally finished her mission -- killing the man who ordered the hit on her family, and mutilating the man that had carried it out -- she 'baptized' herself as the Huntress, a vigilante devoted to wiping out the control organized crime has on society.
Ever since then, Helena has had a rough relationship with Batman, who does not tolerate her willingness to use lethal force. They have a consistent 'I don't trust you, but I'll work with you if I must' attitude toward each other. Batman sees her as too violent; Helena sees him as being non-committal.
When Gotham was declared a No Man's Land, she briefly made appearances as both Huntress and Batgirl, to inspire fear in the criminals that had overtaken the city. She gave up the charade when Batman demanded she end masquerading as Batgirl. Huntress went on to defend her territory of the city, allying with a renegade police officer and even capturing Nightwing and Oracle. Afterwards she helped them escape. Joker shot her five times on Christmas Eve, but she survived the encounter, earning Batman's respect.
Afterward, Batman nominated Huntress for Justice League membership, hoping to curb her violent behavior. However, as she was about to kill Prometheus, Batman stopped her and kicked her out. Afterwards, several murders were set up suggesting that Helena was the killer, and she became wanted by Batman and Nightwing. As she was trying to evade them, she fell into the bay and was rescued by the Question. They retreated to Canada where she trained under Question's sensei, R. Dragon. Over the ensuing months, a relationship grew between Huntress and Question.
When Huntress discovered who had been framing her, she learned that her real father was Santo Cassamento, who was also responsible for the death of her family. She colluded with her Uncle Tomasso and Santo was killed by Tomasso's men. This would result in Question leaving her and Helena had a crisis of faith.
When Barbara Gordon founded the Birds of Prey, Helena was the third member to join. With Oracle and Black Canary, they fought crime in Gotham and Metropolis.
While with the Birds of Prey, Huntress became a temporary substitute with the Outsiders when Arsenal was badly wounded and put out of action for three months. She was constantly butting heads with Nightwing, and so as soon Arsenal was able to serve again, Huntress left the Outsiders.
Helena is currently operating with the Birds of Prey in Gotham, trying to eliminate the organized crime that has deep roots there. However she is getting frustrated by putting out small fires without taking her closer to her ultimate goal: Abolishing the hold organized crime has on the world and prevent lives being destroyed because of it.
Weaknesses:
- Only Human: Despite all her skill and prowess, Helena is only human and can be killed by normal means.
- Grudge: Helena does not forgive or forget. If you cross her, she will always remember it and hold it against you. She always seeks violent retribution.
- Hot-Blooded: Helena is quick to anger and even quicker to wreck violence. She does not hold back and, in the words of one character, "lays down the hurt in hurry." There is no 'the gloves come off' scene with her -- she never had the gloves and if you try to put them on her, she'll choke you with them.
- Fear of Losing Others: Helena suffered a severe loss when her family was murdered in front of her. It forever altered her and defined who she would become. Helena secretly fears losing anyone else she allows herself to get close to or have feelings for. She cannot endure that trauma again, and so she pushes people away in order to protect herself. This fear is what prevents her from having a stable relationship so far and it also powers her drive to wipe out organized crime -- she doesn't want anyone else to endure what she had suffered.
- At Any Cost: Helena is willing to do literally whatever it takes to get to her goal. If that goal is to kill a man or to bring down a crime ring, she'll play nice with or even sleep with whoever to make it happen. She's manipulative in that regard but it just shows how completely devoted she is to her cause.
Other Information:
Cultured Pearl: Though she has no patience for silly society functions and the like, Helena is quite sophisticated, knowledgeable in opera, classical music and fine cuisine. Her familiarity of the rarefied strata of society has allowed her to accurately predict and profile the kind of criminals she targets.
Force of Will: Helena is one of those heroes that simply will not tap out. Even when she has no backup, no friends or support, pursued by villains and getting kicked in the face by Nightwing, she just keeps fighting.
Fights Dirty: Helena will fight dirty and often. She kinda has to considering she's often fighting far above street level and will do whatever it takes to gain the advantage. Biting, eye-gouging, groin kicks -- she'll do it all and not hesitate for a second.
Her repertoire of relationships is spotted with bad luck. Notably, she had a one night stand with Nightwing, but broke things off immediately before it could develop into anything. Most of her relationships are limited to one night stands, among them counting heroes like Arsenal and Question. This is a result of her ruthless nature making her incompatible with most, and because she's grown accustomed to everyone leaving her eventually.
RP Sample:
Three days ago, Helena discovered a new drug was hitting the streets of Gotham.
Two days ago, she had learned the name of the new underground gang peddling the substance.
One day ago, she had learned and memorized the 3AM shipping patterns they used to smuggle the drug into the city.
And tonight, she knelt on the roof of the seaside warehouse that served as the supply depot for their booming business.
Cool, blue eyes scanned the warehouse through the upper windows, methodically noting every detail. These gangsters certainly weren't local. It was too early to say for sure, but she guessed Mexican cartel, or some branch thereof. Ambitious, trying to edge into Gotham. Besides her own family -- the thought made her lips twist bitterly -- the Penguin and Black Mask and Two-Face had made it very clear to outsiders that Gotham was theirs. Any and all intruders had been met with the full force of Injustice, namely a bat with nails in it.
But that didn't seem to matter to these newcomers. Either they weren't impressed by decades of mob control in Gotham -- an unsettling thought -- or they were too stupid to know better. She doubted it was the latter; they moved efficiently and were well-organized. The men unloading the vans worked together well and they treated the minor boss casually. This was no amateur gang. But who were they? And what made them so confident in the face of Gotham's considerable mob bosses?
There was only one way to find out.
Helena had taken care to study the blueprints of this building before coming out tonight. She raised her full-sized crossbow and took careful aim through the open window.
A bolt flew through the air and severed the main power conduit. The lights immediately went dark. Men started shouted, voices panicked. Slipping on her nightvision goggles, Helena slowly lowered herself into the warehouse.
The first man, shouting to his friends from between the pallets of product, was silenced by a swift chop to the throat. His hyoid process snapped under the stiff blade of her hand, collapsing his airway. She left him to suffocate.
Next were two men arguing by the fuse box, one flashlight between them. The tall one crumpled bonelessly when she viciously slammed the butt of her crossbow into the back of his skull. The other one whipped around, mouth open to cry out -- but only whimpered when she filled his mouth with the head of her loaded crossbow bolt. The light jittered wildly as he raised the flashlight to her face. Helena lifted a finger to her lips and then gently turned the flashlight off.
And so it went. They didn't stand a chance here in the dark, in her element. They only realized something was wrong when she'd taken out more than half. After that, she dispensed with most of the stealth, letting the scum scream as she broke their bones and put them down, hard. It made them lose control, and one even started spraying bullets randomly, killing two of his own.
Filth killing filth. Fine by her.
Finally, only one man was left standing. The boss. A short man, wearing a bad Hawaiian shirt and clean blue jeans. Definitely Mexican. No Italian would be caught wearing something so mundane. He held a massive revolver in one hand and a flashlight in the other. She studied him from the shadows as he shouted at the darkness fifty feet away from her. He didn't have the composure of a true mob boss, the kind that see the big picture and view every problem as a minor obstacle. Not great for a first catch, but he'd do.
A bolt came whistling out of the darkness and sank into his upper chest, just under the collarbone. No organs or arteries there, but it would hurt like hell. As he screamed, another bolt bit into his left knee and he fell, cursing unintelligibly. Like the wild animal he was, he began firing wildly, crawling on his back with his other arm.
Then his gun clicked on empty.
Calmly, Helena walked into the beam of his fallen flashlight, taking her time as she pulled back the string of her bow. The man tried to scrabble away but she pointed her crossbow at him and he froze.
"I understand you're new in town," she said coolly. Stepping closer, she took off the goggles and bent over him, still with that crossbow aimed at his left eye. "So allow me to introduce you to Gotham's entrepreneurial code."
She reached out and gently twisted the bolt embedded in his chest. His screaming reached a new level of volume and intensity.
"The pain stops when you start talking. And you're going to tell me everything I want to know."
