Nanodrive
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| File:Nanodrive 2.png | |
| Nanodrive in full regalia | |
| Nanodrive | |
| Player: Wildwind | |
| Origin: | Technology |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Scrapper |
| Security Level: | Confidential |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Angela Black |
| Known Aliases: | None |
| Species: | HUman |
| Age: | 26 |
| Height: | 5'8" |
| Weight: | 125 lbs. |
| Eye Color: | Brown |
| Hair Color: | Black |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | USA |
| Occupation: | Full-Time Hero |
| Place of Birth: | Tyler, TX, USA |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City, RI, USA |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | None Noteworthy |
| Known Powers | |
| Nanomachine-driven regeneration and superspeed, some permanent biological alterations due to nanomachines as well | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Unique hand-to-hand fighting style drawing elements of several martial arts. | |
| Equipment | |
| Top-of-the-line bulletproofed hero costume, mask, cowl, subspace storage device, pocket computer | |
| Nanodrive is known to harbor an decided grudge against Crey, for reasons unknown. | |
The character now named Nanodrive was originally called Serina Black, and was not so much a superhero as just someone who was trying to get by. Around the time that character renames went in, I decided to re-invent the character in a more heroic mold, complete with new name, new costume, and new attitude. Her story is basically the same, so other than the change in her first name (due to the embarrassing realization that I had two characters with the same first name), she's pretty much the same person... I view it more as the character growing into the hero role.
Contents |
History
Childhood and Young Adulthood
As a child growing up in Tyler, Texas, Angela Black was always in fights. Whether it was beating up the schoolyard bully in second grade, or terrorizing the would-be gangs in high school, if there was a scrap to be had, she would find it. Even so, she always insisted that she was not *looking* for trouble; she simply could not sit back and allow the strong to prey on the weak.
It was an ethos that would stay with her through her young adulthood. Upon graduating from high school, unable to think of anything else she wanted to do with her life, she set off to college to pursue a degree in Criminal Justice. While she was interested in the subject matter, though, she found the classes themselves simply did not hold her attention. Furthermore, she struggled with money; finally, she took a night job as a security guard at a local corporation to help pay the bills.
While she drifted out of her classes, she found one subject that did enthrall her... the pursuit of the martial arts. Unwilling to devote herself to any one art, she found herself learning one style after another. Eventually she dropped out of college completely. Time brought a promotion at her job, bringing her to the day where she could learn from the company's more experienced security staff. Realizing that she could make a career out of that work if she learned her way around the technologies that make security sytems work, she split her free time between martial arts study and classes in electronics at a local technical school.
She found that she had a gift for fighting, and over a period of years she began to cultivate her own style, borrowing the techniques that suited her from different arts and learning to make them flow with each other. She was flourishing at work in this time as well, more by hard work than any natural aptitude. Working with the ex-military personnel who were the true experts in the field, she learned about the integration of computer security with physical security, about the social aspects of maintaining security, and most importantly about the criminal mindset and how to defeat it.
Emerging Dynamics, and Paragon City
Her break came when she was hired by a small startup company out of Dallas called Emerging Dynamics. ED was in the business of bioenhancement... cyberware and nanotech... and while the company was small, it was very well-funded. She was their head of security... which was to say, at first, she WAS the security staff. As the company rapidly grew, she found herself with more staff, and more supervisory responsibilities. Even so, she was never really able to separate herself from the day-to-day aspects of the job. Outside of work, she even taught some of the company's agents some of her martial arts techniques, and they quickly gained respect for her fighting ability.
Eventually, Emerging Dynamics relocated to Paragon City. Not wanting to look for a new job, she decided to move with them, even though it meant leaving behind the State she'd lived in all her life. Paragon was a bit of a shock; even in Dallas, there were only a few heroes... and a very few of those were actually "super"... most had been simply well-equipped vigilantes. It wasn't until she arrived in Paragon that she actually MET a hero, and she had to grudgingly admit to being impressed.
Of course, being in Paragon created all new security problems for ED. With all the superheroes came supervillains, and securing a facility against supervillains was a problem she had not yet known. When ED was awarded a contract from the government to research nanotech applications of Rikti cellular regeneration technology, her problems were compounded. Even many of her own security staff were not cleared for the data, so she had to do more of the work herself. She found herself working 16-20 hour days as often as not. She was in and out of the labs constantly, staying on a first-name basis with every employee in the company.
The research, though, was paying dividends. Early prototype testing was encouraging, and the company's officers started talking about an IPO. Like most everyone else in the company, Angela believed riches were heading her way, and she threw herself into her work with a smile.
As news of their successes became public, however, ED found themselves under a new kind of pressure. Crey wanted to buy the company, and the board refused to sell. Angela 's security teams rooted out more than a few security breaches, and while everyone knew where they were coming from, the incidents could never be definitively traced back to Crey. Still, ED's board refused to sell.
The final prototype system was completed, and they were days from starting clinical trials when Crey made a desperate move. Sending in a team of their own "security forces", they attempted to infiltrate the research labs and abduct the lead researcher. Angela happened to be in the facility that night, and in disrupting their raid she was critically injured. Desperate to help her, the researcher she had saved injected her with the latest prototype regenerators.
Her wounds were healed in monents. The nanomachines' benefit, however, went beyond mere regeneration. ED had been in the business of bioenhancement long before the regeneration technology was made available to them, and the prototypes were a hybrid system. Beyond regeneration, the machines allowed her to radically accelerate her metabolsim, granting her superhuman speed as well.
Restored to fighting shape, she was able to drive off the remaining Crey forces. Even so, the attack spooked the board members at ED, and they succumbed to the pressure, selling out to Crey within a few days. Angela, along with several of ED's researchers, quit in disgust... after cashing in their stock options. It wasn't quite the windfall they had been hoping before... but it was enough.
The countess was stunned to find the final prototype nanomachines mysteriously missing. On the other hand, it did not take long for Crey security to draw conclusions about what had happened to them.
Disgusted by Crey's evil tactics and the fact that they'd won with them, Angela took it upon herself to fight those evils. Applying for her hero license, she adopted the name "Nanodrive". Not wanting to give Crey any more clues than they might already have, she fights crime with a mask and cowl to conceal her identity...
Personality
The driving force in Nanodrive's life is her sense of justice. She hates seeing the strong use their might to take what they want, and naturally finds herself favoring an underdog. She fights not so much for law or order as simply to protect those who can't protect themselves, and to take down those who would use power for evil.
She is usually warm and engaging, though she maintains a certain air of mystery abound her own personal life. While she can be friendly to almost anyone, it would be a mistake to assume that she trusts them... her security training is too ingrained for her to trust easily.
She can be a little temperamental, especially if her sense of justice is offended, but she's not given to violent anger. She is quick to exchange witty banter when the opportunity arises, and her wit takes a rapier turn when she is faced with an enemy. Her humor sometimes takes a self-deprecating turn as well.
She is more intelligent than her background might suggest, and has a strong sense of curiosity. She enjoys piecing together a mystery, and as such is sometimes a little less careful than she should be about giving hints to her own... at the same time, she isn't going to give away the show.
She's tough-minded, difficult to deter once she's set herself on a path. At the same time, she is soft-hearted, and has a difficult time turning away from someone in need. She's fiercly loyal to her friends and her SG-mates, as well as to city and country.
Powers
Regeneration
Nanodrive's regeneration is the result of the prototype nanoregenerators that circulate in her blood. In addition to being able to repair damage to her body, the nanoregenerators can self-replicate to the point of maintaining a specific concentration in her blood. The nanomachine system is self-maintaining and self-repairing.
As long as the nanomachines are operational, Nanodrive does not age. There is no pre-set lifespan for the system; it is entirely possible that it (and she) will endure eternally (or until wounded beyond even the nanomachines' phenomenal repair abilities). Nanodrive... tries not to think about this if she can help it.
Superspeed
The nanoenhancement system also provides for dramatic acceleration of Nanodrive's metabolism, granting her the ability to move at superhuman speeds. She is capable at travelling at speeds well in excess of 300 mph, with bursts considerably faster than that. The nanomachines have permanently altered her physiology to allow her to tolerate this rate of movement without injury.
Fitness
Angela Black was already in excellent physical condition before she became Nanodrive. The nanomachines have only enhanced this, improving her metabolism and altering her physiology to be more efficient.
Notes
A side effect of Nanodrive's powers is that she has to eat more and more often than an unaltered human. Exactly how much more depends on how heavily she uses her powers, but she averages about six full meals a day.
It has been speculated that if another person were to receieve a blood transfusion from Nanodrive, that the regenerators would rebuild a concentration in that individual, essentially replicating Nanodrive's powers in them.
Abilities
Martial Arts
Nanodrive's martial arts style consists of a variety of different techniques she learned when bouncing from one instructor and one style to another. She has had several years to refine this into a cohesive style. Since she gained her superspeed powers (along with her regeneration), she has evolved her techniques to take advantage of these as well.
Security
Nanodrive has the detailed knowledge of security that only highly trained military personnel or those taught by such personnel can acquire. She is an expert in designing, maintaining, and interpreting security systems, and is equally skilled at breaking them. She has built the security system for the Kings' Row building which serves as both base and residence to the heroes of Trouble Incorporated, and considering her problems with Crey, she put a great deal of effort into making it as good as it can possibly be.
She is also highly experienced in corporate security operations, and is well aware of the intricacies of the "black operations" conducted by companies such as Crey... and how to counter them. She has some background in criminal justice, as well.
Equipment and Costumes
Nanodrive's initial hero costume consisted merely of a flak jacket and pants. She quickly realized her need to protect her identity, however, and spent some of her money from the Crey buyout on two superhero costumes. Ultimately, she decided she preferred the second variant, a red-white-and-blue costume in the classic hero style. The patriotic overtones appeal to her, and she likes how she looks in it.
Both her superhero costumes are bulletproof, though the thinness of the material (necessary for her to move as she does) means the costume does not absorb as much of the impact force as she would like. As a regenerator, this does not impede her in combat, but at the same time it doesn't mean she likes being shot.
Aside from this, Nanodrive carries a subspace storage unit she uses to carry evidence and supplies, as well as a pocket computer and her phone. A micro-headset for the phone is built into her cowl.
Quote
"A lady's got to have her secrets... and I do, as well." (To someone asking questions about her background, in the D)
