Stardisc

CLEA DATA FILE

Identity:

• Gemma Smith

CLEA Classification:

• Alpha Superior

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

• Alpha ability – By touching an object and concentrating on it she can link it to his mind and control it via a form of telekinesis. Unlike her brother, Paul she can link to more than one object at the same time. (maximum of five)
  Trying to get an object to build up speed takes quite some time so she tends to throw them to give an initial starting velocity and “steer” them inflight. Note: Since she has linked to her “hover disc” (see below) she can only throw/control four other objects.
• Alpha ability – During her time with Chaos Gemma acquired an experimental hover craft which she linked to her mind. Using her ability she can levitate it high off the ground and use it to fly around.
• Alpha ability – her choice of weapon(s) are a special “collapsible” variant of a Chinese throwing stars. To avoid hurting people even criminals (except as a last result), once launched she can use the Shurikens to corral and trap her opponents.

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

• The control “range” of objects linked to her mind is far more limited than her brother. Like him and item out of range remains linked and it takes time to break the connection in order to link with a new one.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

• Robbery (Time served)
• Theft (Time served)

Notes/History

Whilst growing up in the Smith household Gemma always felt she was in the shadow of her elder brother. As most of the Smith males across the generations had become relatively famous CLEA operatives it seemed to her that Paul was getting all their fathers attention as he was groomed for potential future greatness. This led her to working especially hard at school to even get noticed by her parents but despite top grades she still felt inferior.

Things seemed to change for the family her when Paul discovered he was an Alpha Superior. Gemma considered with his special abilities she would become even less noticed. However Paul opted to leave CLEA and become an Independent Hero and a rift set in between father and son. Finally she started to receive the attention she had wanted but by then she felt it was too little too late.

By the time Gemma left school and had started work, Paul was known around Pacifica as Discus and had received added media attention by becoming leader of the Phoenix Alliance. Things at home had got so bad that she had moved out and found a small but shabby apartment. She still felt the need to be on even terms with Paul and her wished seemed to be answered when she discovered she was also an Alpha Superior.

It was rare for a person to be and Alpha Inferior when the family had no previous lineage in this regards which was why neither her or Paul had ever been noticed despite the obvious signs that neither had ever been ill. What was even more rare was for two family members of the same generation to change status to become Alpha Superiors but the siblings did follow the general rule that same generation Alpha Superiors in the same family often gained similar abilities (apart from twins who usually had exactly the same abilities).

Whereas Paul could link himself to a singular object by “locking” on to it through a process of touch and concentration she could do the same with multiple objects, albeit Paul could keep “control” of an object over a longer distance whereas her ability to link with multiple objects worked over a greatly reduced range. Thinking at long last she would earn her recognition she located Paul and asked to join the Phoenix Alliance. He however was worried she might get hurt so decided to put her off by suggesting she was simply not good enough. Gemma considered this an insult and thought he was just trying to get rid of her so he could enjoy the admiration of others whilst denying her the same thing. Angry again at what she perceived as being made to look inferior she hatched a plan designed to embarrass him. She joined a local street gang.

Though prepared to get involved in criminal activities Gemma made the decision she was not going to use her special abilities whilst doing so. She only wanted to “hurt” Paul, not other people so that was the reason she never told the gang leader she was an Alpha Superior.
As predicted her ploy worked so Paul had her arrested by Pacifica Police Department officers that were his friends. Between them they agreed to hold her in a cell overnight to teach her a lesson but not process her as a felon. Being a Alpha Superior meant that if that happened she would receive harsh punishment and this was not Paul’s intention. He simply wanted to give Gemma a reality check of what would happen if she continued on her life of crime.

A rookie cop though noticed her in the cells and thought the paperwork had been missed and put her in the system along with the prisoners in the other holding cells.Once that happened there was nothing Paul or his friends could do and she was put before judge. Though only a petty criminal and having never used her Alpha abilities whilst roaming with the street gang the judge wanted to make an example of her and sentenced her to six years, a massively disproportionate sentence for the crimes committed.

After being transferred to a special prison for Alphas, Paul lodged an appeal but by this time Gemma refused to even talk to him. Paul kept on trying to get her sentence reduced despite the fact she would have nothing to do with him. Then after eighteen months had gone by the facility was attacked by Alpha Strike who were trying to free their own. Seeing an opportunity to evade another four and half years inside Gemma escaped in the ensuing confusion and became a wanted fugitive.

Angry at the world she flitted between various groups of Alpha criminals where she used her Alpha abilities to commit crime.  As she “linked” to bladed weapons she took the name Slicer. On occasions she even fought her brother and did not seem to be bothered if he got hurt. He had after all been the one to put her in prison so she felt that there was no need to treat him any different to anyone else that got in her way. In bid to stop her rampaging activities Paul quit the Phoenix Alliance so he could dedicate his time to apprehend her. Secretly he hoped to reason with Gemma as he knew if other more determined heroes or hot headed law enforcement officers went after her then she could get seriously hurt if not killed. Guilty at having her put in prison in the first place, the last thing Paul wanted was to see his sister come to serious harm, despite her flaws.

Paul would eventually catch up to her after she had joined up with Chaos. The group seemed to satisfy her need for revenge against the world better than the other criminals she had joined up with. Abyss, leader of the group did not really have a use for her as he really wanted someone to join them that could give Thunderchild some aerial support. Under “normal” circumstances Gemma would have been sent packing. However she begged them to at least give her a chance. Intrigued, Abyss allowed Gemma to perform a demonstration and whilst he found her means to control objects as merely “interesting” he did note she had exceptional acrobatic and balancing skills. This gave him an idea since the group had “acquired” an experimental hovering platform during a previous operation. It was designed to move in the direction the person leant but it remained at ground level any attempt to gain altitude and it became unstable and eventually threw its rider (not a desing flaw but the physics of hovercraft in general). Abyss figured if Gemma could link the hovercraft to her mind she would be able to use the disc to fly and Thunderchild would get her much needed “wingman.”

Gemma was handed the platform and ordered to stand on it and fly it around the warehouse that has Chaos’s temporary HQ whilst using her Alpha abilities. Providing she could do as Abyss had asked then he agreed to allow her to join them. Every attempt she made resulted in her falling off as it flipped over and after an hour Abyss lost his patience because she was using it “normally” which physics dictated would not allow to levitate more than a few centimeters without going unstable.Having worked out roughly how her alpha abilities worked he had expected her to “link” with the device not just try to get on it. Though he was completely insane Abyss was not without intellect. In a fit of anger he spelled out what he wanted her to do and Gemma complied.

This time after touching and holding the disc before standing on it the link was established. Now she gained instant mastery of the device and Thunderchild had gained an aerial ally. Abyss though wanted her to be completely fluid with both her flying and offensive skills so whilst the rest of the group went out on missions she had to stay behind and keep practising. This state of affairs continued for several weeks until Gemma finally mastered the unit. By this time she no longer needed the handles to hold and removed them altogether. The thrust needed normally for hovering she could now use for forwards momentum nd she learned to steer the unit in a similar fashion to a surfer. That meant she needed some proper foot holds since she did not fancy falling off at altitude and Abyss duly hand them fitted.

With everything ready she was then allowed to participate in her first mission. However she had not entirely earned Abyss’s trust so she was kept in the dark right until the last moment.  Only then was she informed that the intended target was an office block belonging to a corporation that supplied equipment to CLEA.

When the attack began and it quickly became apparent to Gemma that Abyss did not care whom got killed. In a moment of clarity she realised that despite her anger at the world this was not what she wanted and it had been a mistake in her joining Chaos.  Realising she did not want the blood of innocent people on her hands there was only one of two ways out of the situation.  Fleeing did not seem viable because she knew they would hunt her down and that only left trying to stop them which was equally suicidal.  Gemma quickly decided it was better to fight and do something that mattered than to act as a coward. Either way she figured she was dead so she went on the attack. One Alpha against six meant she stood little chance of succeeding but her interference did buy people enough time to evacuate the building before it was blown up.

Hot on the trail of his sister, Discus arrived just as Chaos completed their attack. His old friends the Phoenix Alliance also appeared ( got wind of an imminent attack on the building) but neither they or Paul could prevent the destruction of the office block. After a two hour search in the rubble rescue teams found Gemma but it was touch and go whether she would survive her injuries.

Gemma though surprised everyone and made a full recovery but on leaving hospital was immediately arrested on the grounds of her previous crimes and escaping prison. By now she had reconciled with her brother and was prepared to face the music. Paul hired the best lawyer to defend her and during the trial Paul and many of the Phoenix Alliance was brought in as character witnesses. The defence lay on the fact that had the first judge to have sentence her had given her the “appropriate” sentence for being a petty criminal she would not have been given a prison sententece of six years. Added to the argument was the testimony of others that had she not tried to stop Chaos then many innocent lives would have been lost.

The prosecution in turn countered with the fact that after she had escaped prison she had been involved in many crimes and made a point that during committing them, on several occasions her own brother had been forced to stop her. In summing up the judge acknowledge Gemma’s self-sacrifice but could not ignore the crimes she had committed since escaping. He also acknowledged the fact her original sentence had been inappropriate but stated that two wrongs did not make a right. Taking everything into account he decided to give her a two year suspended sentence and suggested she should perhaps to continue to use her amazing gifts to defend and protect people as she had done when she stood against Chaos.

Once things had settle down following the trial Gemma decided to take the judge’s suggestion to heart and asked Paul to sponsor her membership with the Guardian Alliance. Paul had been considering re-joining but had become involved in some “projects” that meant he had to operate alone. As the pair had very similar abilities it seemed the perfect compromise so after meeting with G-Wiz and Foresight, Gemma was accepted into the Alliance.

She then travelled over to Europa to start a new life at the Teams HQ and chose to ditch the name of Slicer as it was linked to her criminal past. Gemma elected to use a new codename, that of Stardisc. This was based on the fact she still flew the disc “donated” to her from Chaos and her chosen offensive weapons were Chinese throwing stars.

After staying with them for two years Gemma then found “work” as a lone hero in and around Europa but so the Alliance was never left short handed her and Paul agreed as reservists at any one time either one of them should be active on the team.
When using her abilities Gemma can throw singular stars at the same time and steer them accurately to a target or throw multiple stars at the same time (she normally carries 4) and control them like a swarm to surround or corral a fleeing target.