Omega Girl
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| Omega Girl | |
| Player: @Inheritor | |
| Origin: | Science |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Scrapper |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Amanda Shields |
| Known Aliases: | ' |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 25 |
| Height: | 5'8" |
| Weight: | 140 |
| Eye Color: | Blue |
| Hair Color: | Blonde |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Full time hero |
| Place of Birth: | Riverside, California |
| Base of Operations: | Steel Canyon |
| Marital Status: | Not married |
| Known Relatives: | ' |
| Known Powers | |
| Superhuman strength, Superhuman Durability, Flight, Energy Projection | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Hand-to-Hand Combat, Omega Eye Beams, Omega Freezing Breath, Omega Power Wave, Omega Barrier, Omega Supernova | |
| Equipment | |
| Longbow-issued communicator | |
| ' | |
Contents |
Backstory
In the early 90's, Angel City had been a booming hub of scientific research. Many of the world's greatest minds congregated there, working with their peers to churn out breakthrough after revolutionary breakthrough. It was an exciting time in the scientific world, but the city began to fall into decline as crime skyrocketed. One by one, the researchers who made Angel City great began to leave, until it was but a shell of its former self. This was not a failing of the police department, but rather the sudden appearance of genetically enhanced criminal metahumans. At first no one knew where these metahumans came from, but as more and more of them appeared, causing ever greater destruction, they began to coalesce into an organization that came to be known as "Jackal". First they gained control of the commercial sector through theft, bribery, and threats, then they took over the government in the same way. In less than a year, Angel City went from a scientific utopia to a barren dystopia where Jackal ruled in all but name.
Amanda Shields was a bright and talented engineering undergraduate student, and one of the few such students who remained in the city. When everyone around her had already accepted Jackal as their shadow overlords, Amanda staunchly refused to bow to their whims. This all came to a head when one of Jackal's metahumans held an entire department store hostage. After secretly organizing a plan to allow everyone to escape, she confronted the metahuman herself in order to distract him. The plan worked, and when the metahuman realized this, he stabbed her through the chest, then left her to die. She was eventually picked up and rushed to the hospital, but her condition was dire. There was no doctor who could save her in her condition, and even if they called in outside help, she wouldn't survive long enough for them to get there. That was when she met Professor Kisaragi.
Kisaragi was a professor at the university Amanda attended, as well as one of the great scientific minds remaining from Angel City's golden age. She told Amanda that she could save her using the fruits of her research, the Omega Particles. With nothing left to lose, Amanda underwent Omega Particle radiation therapy, and that was when a miracle happened. All humans have a variable Omega Particle absorption rate, with most having a rate of around 0.1%. Amanda, however, happened to have an absorption rate of 100%. Taking in all of the Omega Particles she was exposed to had a dramatic effect. Not only did she make a full recovery, she even began to generate her own Omega Particles. Over the course of the next few days, she and Dr. Kisaragi discovered other powers that the Omega Particles granted her. Superhuman durability. Superhuman strength. Flight. Even laser beam eyes. With this new power, Omega Girl was born.
She took to the streets right away, taking down the criminal metahumans one at a time. Though their powers were fearsome, they were no match for Omega Girl. It wasn't long before Jackal realized how much of a threat she was to their rule, and started to send everyone they could to defeat her. Yet, no matter who was sent, Omega Girl prevailed in the end. Finally, it came to the Four Chief Executives of Jackal. Whoever was at the head of Jackal was the one responsible for creating the metahumans, and whenever they pleased him, he modified them even more, giving them ever greater powers. The Four Chief Executives, then, were the most powerful members of Jackal, standing head and shoulders above the rest. Unlike the other metahumans, the Four Chief Executives were able to challenge Omega Girl, but after a fierce battle, she was able to force them to retreat.
Omega Girl and the Executives continued to clash for the better part of a year, neither side able to completely overcome the other, until finally the leader of Jackal stepped out of the shadows to reveal his new invention that would defeat Omega Girl once and for all: the Anti-Omega Particle. Like Omega Particles, Anti-Omega Particles could come in many forms, and Jackal turned those Anti-Omega Particles into weapons which were given to the Chief Executives. Armed with Anti-Omega weapons, they attacked Omega Girl and, for the first time, were able to beat her. Though she fought bravely, Anti-Omega Particles not only weakened her powers, but also slowly killed her on contact. The citizens of Angel City watched in horror as their beloved heroine suffered tragically from the insidious Anti-Omega Particles. But before she could meet her end, a second miracle occurred. Reacting to Omega Girl's unbreakable fighting spirit, all of the nearby ambient Omega Particles, even the ones present in other people, began to flow back into her. Now with an overabundance of Omega Particles, she was able to stave off the effects of the Anti-Omega Particles long enough to turn the tide, defeating Jackal once and for all.
With Angel City finally free from its long nightmare, Amanda could finally rest. There was still crime, of course, but it was the kind the police could handle. She earned her degree and moved to a place where she knew people would need her help: Paragon City. This time, however, she went not as Omega Girl, but as Amanda Shields. A naturally shy and withdrawn person, Amanda was exhausted by being in the spotlight all the time. She wanted to help people, but in a supporting role. She joined Freedom Corps' search and rescue division, where she saved many lives. But this being Paragon City, there were times when the good men and women of Freedom Corps just weren't enough. Anytime they were in real trouble, Amanda transformed back into Omega Girl to save them. Since these were isolated incidents, Omega Girl was only known to a few local neighborhoods. She was thought of as a guardian angel that kept the common folk safe, and she was content with that. She had no desire to go back to being the heroine of an entire city like she was back in her hometown.
That all changed when the deaths of Statesman and Sister Psyche rocked Paragon City to its core. With the death of its iconic signature hero, fear and uncertainty spread throughout the entire city. Criminals and villains grew bolder, even though the number of heroes hadn't changed. Crime rates rose drastically. Amanda could no longer stay as she was. She quit her job with the Freedom Corps, stepped out of the shadows, and finally made her official debut in Paragon City as the invincible Omega Girl. Her goal was no longer simply to fight crime. Rather, she wanted to inspire people again, to mend broken hearts of everyone who mourned Statesman, to become a living symbol of hope. With her overwhelming power, her unshaking conviction, and her new, iconic costume, she became just that. With each triumph over increasingly powerful villains, her reputation grows further.
Powers
According to Dr. Kisaragi's research, Omega Particles are massless, subatomic particles which are present in trace amounts everywhere. They have little interaction with other particles, but can be absorbed by living beings at low rates. The organism can subconsciously convert their Omega Particles into real, usable energy to be metabolized, although the amount of energy is typically trivial. At higher than natural levels, Omega Particles manifest as a sort of healing factor. When a critical density of Omega Particles is reached (as is the case with Omega Girl), they gain new properties. The Omega Particles generate more Omega Particles up to whatever limit Omega Girl can store, while the rest is harmlessly emitted from her body. Usage of her powers uses up Omega Particles, which are then replenished over time. Because of this, she seldom uses her full power, as doing so would rapidly deplete her store of Omega Particles. Being low on Omega Particles causes her crippling exhaustion and intense pain, and once fully depleted, she would die. As a preventative measure, the fewer Omega Particles she currently has, the more difficult it is for her to expend them. It is similar to how it is easy to squeeze water from a wet sponge, but the drier it gets the less water it yields, with it being nearly impossible to completely dry out through force alone. When on the brink of death, she can be brought back to life with another infusion of Omega Particles. Currently the only source of this is Dr. Kisaragi's Omega Particle Generator.
This understanding of Omega Particles has held up so far, but when Omega Girl was noticed by the Well of Furies, it asked her mockingly, "Do you really think your so-called 'Omega Particles' are a mere physical phenomenon?" These words trouble her to this day. Apparently, Omega Particles in fact have some sort of connection to the Well of Furies, as it was later discovered that they have Incarnate-like properties. Further pursuing this avenue of power led to Omega Girl's increased ability to store and emit Omega Particles, giving her access to new powers. Currently, Omega Girl is recognized as a full Incarnate. Her documented powers are as follows:
- Superhuman Strength: Omega Girl is able to lift around 50 to 100 tons.
- Superhuman Durability: Omega Girl is impervious to bullets and most other attacks.
- Willpower: Not actually a superpower, but a characteristic of Amanda Shields even before she became Omega Girl. She has an extremely stubborn personality and an absolute refusal to give up, which is possibly what attracted the Omega Particles to begin with. This also affords her resistance to mental manipulation and psychic assault.
- Hand-to-hand Combat: When she first gained her powers, Amanda Shields trained heavily in hand-to-hand combat. Rather than rely solely on brute force, she uses a quick, agile fighting style which has been honed over years of fighting villains.
- Flight: Early on, Omega Girl could only jump high, but with training she was able to use Omega Particles to propel herself for full-blown flight. Note that she does not have superhuman speed of any kind, and her top flight speed clocks in at only about 60 miles per hour. She uses Longbow transport if she needs to get somewhere quickly.
- Omega Eye Beams: Omega Girl projects Omega Particles from her eyes as searing hot lasers.
- Omega Freezing Breath: Omega Girl's breath can reach sub-zero temperatures, freezing her target. A seldom used ability, as it only works at very close range, against weaker foes.
- Omega Power Wave: Omega Girl projects Omega Particles from her hands as a concussive wave of energy.
- Omega Barrier: Omega Girl projects her Omega Particles to her allies, sharing some of her power with them. For a short time, they gain equal durability to Omega Girl.
- Omega Supernova: An extreme version of Omega Power Wave. Omega Particles are channeled as a massive explosion in a wide area. Because this attack uses up a lot of Omega Particles, she uses it sparingly.
Relationships
Due to her earlier reputation as being the savior of the Freedom Corps, Omega Girl maintains good terms with Longbow and is often called in for favors, like giving talks or assisting with training exercises for the new recruits. As thanks for her contributions, they have loaned her a prototype Cataphract affectionately called Omega Robo. Though she has some reservations about Longbow's more fanatical side, she recognizes that at their core they're well-meaning people like her, and so she supports them whenever possible. Occasionally she even represents them during operations in the Rikti War Zone, as she is not a member of Vanguard due to ideological differences.
Unsurprisingly, she has received invitations to a number of Super Groups, but she has rejected every single one. She was the only superhero fighting crime in her home city, so teaming up with others is something she simply never got used to. When she came to Paragon City and started working with other heroes for the first time, she had mixed feelings. Some of them didn't take the duty of heroism as seriously as she believed they should. Others had admirable devotion, but lacked the power to back it up. They huddled together and meticulously formulated military-grade strategies in the time that it took for Omega Girl to simply fly through the entire enemy base, find the villain, and defeat him by herself, whereupon she was rebuked for not following the plan. The rebuke was not unfounded; her straightforward approach alerted the base and really did put her allies in danger. But those kinds of experiences really cemented the idea that relying on others would only get them hurt. She decided that Omega Girl's power alone should be enough to defeat any and all villains, without putting anyone else in harm's way.
There are a few heroes, however, she has maintained friendships with. The first was Rumble, a Polynesian hero with stone powers. He was the first hero Omega Girl ever met who could keep up with her, and the two fought back to back many times, against all sorts of enemies. In fact, Rumble's physical strength and durability surpassed even hers, with her arsenal of other powers leveling the playing field somewhat. He frequently calls her by the nickname "short stuff", despite her being of slightly taller than average height for a woman, which she still grumbles about but has begrudgingly resigned to accept. Their adventures ultimately took them to Praetoria, where they battled an aspect of the Praetorian Hamidon.
Another is Thunderbolt, the demigoddess of lightning. Among others, the two of them were summoned by the Midnighter, Lumiere, to Dark Astoria. By this time Omega Girl had become widely known as one of the greatest heroines of the new age. She found herself at the forefront of a powerful team including the peppy Magical Girl Sefrah, the self-serving villain Nekromedian, and the cryptic Obtuse. Nonetheless the one she felt most kinship with was Thunderbolt, who was punching it out with the best of them despite having only been a heroine for a week. Their shared sense of justice resulted in excellent teamwork and a budding friendship, until Nekromedian drove a wedge between them by accusing Omega Girl of finding street gangs such as the Tsoo "beneath her". For the past couple of months, Omega Girl had scarcely been seen in Paragon City, spending most of her time fighting primordial gods and beings from alternate dimensions. As a result, the streets were left unchecked, leaving heroes such as Thunderbolt to clean up her mess. Omega Girl had no excuses, and was held back by a sense of guilt for the remainder of the mission. Seeing her remorse, Thunderbolt reassured her that everyone had their role to play. The two of them parted with Omega Girl giving Thunderbolt her contact information, promising her that if that if she called, Omega Girl would drop all of her plans to come help as soon as possible.
Omega Girl has found a mentor in Argent Girl, a veteran heroine of Paragon City. Argent Girl is one of the few to have seen Omega Girl's human side, to realize that behind the shining heroine of justice is a relatively ordinary young woman just trying to live up to her own reputation. This became most apparent when the two of them joined forces to put a stop to the Carnival. Using a magical artifact, they were able to delve into the memories of the Carnival's leader, Vanessa DeVore. When Omega Girl discovered that Vanessa had merely been possessed by a haunted mask while trying to save lives, she became absolutely determined to save her. Although they had not met in person, she felt a kind of friendship with the Vanessa of the past, an idealistic college student determined to save the world. Omega Girl and Argent Girl fought the terrible psychic entity possessing Vanessa on a nightmarish psychic plane where all sense of time was lost. They weren't sure if they had been there for hours, days, or weeks, but through heroic perseverance, they finally managed to separate the psychic ghost from Vanessa's mind.
...only to find that the Carnival was still active. In the back of her mind, Omega Girl knew what this meant, but her characteristic refusal to give up on hope blinded her to the truth. Trying to hide her increasing desperation, she ignored Argent Girl's words of caution and insisted that the Carnival had kidnapped Vanessa DeVore, that she was still just an innocent girl who needed to be saved. When they came face to face with DeVore, however, the truth could no longer be denied. Vanessa was no longer the sweet and innocent girl Omega Girl had come to know through her memories. All that remained in her place was a villainess. They won the fight against the DeVore, but in every way that mattered to her, Omega Girl had lost. For the first time, she had truly lost. As usual, she put on a brave smile and insisted that everything was fine, but Argent Girl saw through the mask. Through sharing her own experiences, she managed to coax Amanda out from behind her constructed hero identity, and for the first time since she had donned the cape back in Angel City, she cried. Argent Girl stayed with her to comfort her, and when it was all over, the two heroines came out of the ordeal with a deepened relationship.
As another means of reaching out to the community, Omega Girl has registered herself in Paragon High's Metahuman Mentors program. Eligible students can request mentorship hours with Omega Girl for course credit. The first student she mentored was a spunky young heroine named Gravity-Girl, who was in dire need of credit at the risk of failing her freshman year of high school. In one of their many adventures together, Gravity-Girl was scouted out by Red Crow in a surprise "interview", eventually resulting in her induction into the Golden Age Heroes.
Personality
At first glance, Amanda Shields doesn't seem heroic at all, instead she is typically what one would call, "mousy". Shy and reserved, she blends easily into the crowd. She's kind, even soft-hearted, to everyone she meets. However, she also has a strong sense of responsibility surpassing even her shyness. When necessary, she steps fearlessly into the spotlight to do what must be done. A dependable and hardworking person, she won't rest until the job is done. This is the side of her that everyone sees when she's in costume as Omega Girl. A fearless, invincible war goddess of justice who never tires, never gets hurt, never loses. She has zero tolerance for evildoers until they repent and change their ways, but those that do, have her full support, even if they were trying to kill her just a second ago. Her unshakable principles prevent her from sacrificing someone for the greater good even if it would make logical sense to do so. She adheres rigidly to the law, relying on the criminal justice system to mete out sentences instead of taking things into her own hands, but admittedly there are times when she feels conflicted. She takes heroism very seriously, at the expense of a sense of humor. Lately she's been trying to compensate for this by occasionally throwing out humorous one-liners, but her attempts usually end in nothing but embarrassment. Her excessively hard-working lifestyle up to this point has left her woefully ignorant of pop culture, so even the most universal references tend to go over her head.
