CLEA DATA FILE
Partnership Identities:
- Flash Flood – Francis Garcia
- Heavy Metal – Kristyna Simon
CLEA Classification:
- Alpha Superior (Garcia)
- Alpha Superior (Simon)
Special Skills and/or Abilities:
- Alpha ability (Garcia) – has the means to pull water moisture from the air and absorb it in a compressed form which he then releases (usually from his hands) as a deadly torrent of water or like a water canon.
- Alpha ability- enables her to “grow” metal spikes anywhere on her body. Having learned great control of them she actually displays the ends of many spikes in the form of clothing “studs”. Her most deadly offensive weapons are elongated singular spikes. These she “grows” on her hand from the bottom edge and/or base of the thumb. Alternately she grows singular spikes from the toe and heel areas of her feet. Defensively she can cover whole areas of her body (typically the forearms) with spikes and as the spikes are always present (under the skin so cannot be seen) she is immune to many forms of projectile weapons. Her only main weakness is that the longer and more spikes she grows the weaker she becomes.
Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):
- Very poor tactically minded.
Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:
- Various Public disorder offences. Believe they are fighting to destroy the system by levelling the field between rich and powerful and the poor and weak.
- Wilful damage to property/Vandalism
Notes/History
Having once been a brilliant young designer Francis Garcia lost everything when the company he worked for stole his work due to cleverly placed legal clauses. His managers got very rich and he got nothing. During a fit of depression he tried to commit suicide but survived. However whilst his body recovered he his mind did not. His sanity fractured and he began to see the world in a different light warped by his own personal experiences which left him of the opinion that all those in power exploited everyone else, especially the humble workers and he decided to fight back on their behalf.
After a short bombing campaign against various corporate targets in and around Europa’s financial district, the police managed to track him down but when they tried to arrest him the officers inadvertently triggered his Alpha abilities allowing him to escape. In his mind he saw the law enforcement officer’s attempt to stop him as those in authority protecting those in power and added the police and any other law enforcement agency to his list of targets (as well as anyone that got in his way). As an Alpha criminal he no longer needed bombs to make a statement as in his mind fate had bestowed a weapon to fight his personal war and that weapon was his Alpha ability.
Despite his power he could not evade people for long as various Alpha heroes began lining up to end his campaign of destruction. This was why when Heavy Metal found him and expressed similar views towards authority figures and “the system” (as well as having problems with so called heroes) he decided they might be better with each other if only for their common goals and mutual protection.
Compared to Francis, throughout her life Kristyna Simon had been in trouble with the law. Despite her parents best efforts, her rebellious attitude led her into joining various street gangs where she developed a dislike to those in authority. Even the numerous spells in juvenile detention did not make her see sense and Kristyna refused to change her ways.
Things though took a turn for the worse when the gang she was with robbed a shop and the elderly shopkeeper died. As she wore distinctive clothing eyewitnesses had been able to identify her along with a couple of other members. Police arrested Kristyna and the other two and due to the public outcry was desperate for a conviction. Though she had not killed the old man, she chose to stay silent to protect the other members of the gang. Their lawyers however pushed for a plea bargain and the two other suspects named Kristyna as the one responsible. By then it was too late for her break her silence. Her own legal representatives did their best to counter the claims made by the other defendants in the case but her attitude in court did not help her win any support from the jury.
Despite a severe lack of hard evidence she was convicted of manslaughter on the testimony given by the other gang members and sentenced to fifteen year imprisonment. Her eventual escape would later be traced to not one but two oversights by medical examiners. The first occurred when a prison doctor was assessing the new intake of prisoners and failed to notice the “diamond shaped” birth mark on Kristyna, an indicator that she was an Alpha Inferior.
The second oversight occurred when Kristyna was into the fifth year of her sentence. For the first time in her life she felt unwell and reported symptoms such as light sensitivity and itchy skin all well documented pointers indicating a person was an Alpha Inferior changing status to an Alpha Superior. Since Kristyna was a bit of a trouble causer the prison doctor ignored her and thought she was just wasting his time. That second oversight would have drastic consequences weeks later when a rival prisoner chose to attack Krisyna for daring to challenge her. No longer feeling unwell and now wanting to appear week, Kristyna gave as good as she got before the guards arrived. However the physical confrontation gave her a massive adrenalin rush which was enough to activate her Alpha abilities. Immediately she began growing metal spikes out of her body, and though she had no idea what was going on, Kristyna saw a chance to escape but not before trying out her new “powers” by beat and maiming her opponent. Since the guards stood between her and freedom they were next to feel her wrath and once she made it to a less secure sector of the prison there was nothing and nobody who could stop her.
Once free, Kristyna spent some time learning how to use her Alpha abilities and then once she had mastered them she returned to her old neighbourhood with one thing on her mind, revenge against her old gang. This she achieved but was still a wanted convict so had to continue to stay one step ahead of the law. By now CLEA had been made aware that Kristyna was an Alpha Superior and they were called in on the man hunt. Over a period of a few months she manage to avoid the local police but CLEA came close to capturing her which only gave her a dislike for another agency. She vowed she would do everything in her power to remain free and her hatred of the justice system was far worse now than it was before. This in turn brought her into conflict with any heroes that came after her.
One particularly troublesome “hero” was Bulletproof who appeared relatively immune to her abilities. Fearing that this woman could be the one who would eventually turn her in led Kristyna to seek help in getting rid of her. That led her to showing an interest in Flash Flood who like her had a problem with authority figures. Though he was obviously mentally off kilter Kristyna sought him out and after considering his goals were similar to hers and he had too many enemies to handle alone the pair decided to work together.
In view of the legal mistakes leading to Kristyna’s wrong imprisonment it was considered by the Europa Justice Department to offer Kristyna a retrial in return for her ending her criminal activities. She rejected the offer quite dramatically by attacking her original legal team’s offices in order to send a message that she does not trust nor ever will trust the legal system again.
For many years CLEA and many heroes tried to bring them down but they managed to get lucky on each occasion. Ironically though the pair would end up seeking out heroes after they accidentally stumbled across a Synthraz invasion. Kristyna was infected with spores and out of desperation Francis started a torrent of water to attract attention.
As he expected someone showed up to stop him and by chance it was Lady Luck. She put a call out to the Phoenix Alliance and they arrived in time to stop the Synthraz. Upon leaving they took Kristyna back to their base. Though it was a risk that was where they had access to the groups best medical facility.
It took time but they managed to kill the spore before she turned into a Synthraz. Though she and Francis were greatful at what the Alliance had done for them, they figured they would be turned over to the law and so snuck away in the middle of the night only to come face to face with Striker.
For a few moments it looked like the trio were going to end up fighting but Striker said he would not stop them. He did however give them something to think about by telling the pair that the Phoenix Alliance had been created on second chances and since Kristyna had just had heard life saved then maybe they should consider a new path. He hinted that perhaps they might find their lives easier if they “played nice” since if they acted as heroes they would always have the support of heroes as opposed to being alone and having to watch their backs all the time.
The pair heeded Striker’s advice and decided to try and reform. In doing so CLEA down graded their wanted status. Serving the people as heroes seemed an adequate form of community service. Eventually they would gain reserve status with the Alliance albeit their abrasiveness made them hard to work with.
