Setup

Setup is a Level 50 Sonic/Pain Domination corruptor, with a Science origin. Born to a family of petty criminals and con artists, Casey Louise McGuire grew up in the streets of the Rogue Isles. Her father, Mitchell, taught Casey and her older brother all manner of confidence games, ranging from simple pigeon drops to more complicated scams involving real estate and electronic theft. Mitch ran his small empire of grift and theft out of a semi-legitimate payday loan company in St. Martial and developed a reputation for devising smart, efficient cons. His ambitions to outmaneuver some of his competitors weren't quite as smart or efficient, and he was eventually killed after a dispute with one of his shills turned violent. Casey's brother, Samuel, assumed control of the family business, though he wasn't nearly as inventive as his father had been. Still, Sam managed operations well enough to entertain notions that his little sister would go off to college someday and make an honest life for herself. A string of bad luck and poor choices ended those hopes for both of the McGuire siblings, and Casey went on the roll shortly after her sixteenth birthday.

Her sweet disposition and friendly smile made Casey the perfect shill. She generally worked with Sam or one of his runners to set a mark up for the take, but she was rarely involved beyond that. When business took a downturn or a scam got too heated, Sam usually took his sister out of play to protect her - something that began to happen more and more as Casey grew up. Her brother had learned how to run cons from his father, but he had never quite figured out how to do them well enough to consistently avoid trouble. Reckless spending habits and arrogance also influenced Samuel's decision making, so by the time that Casey was in her early twenties, her brother had worked the McGuire business into a very precarious situation. Owing money to other loan companies and often unable to collect outstanding debts for his own business, Samuel began implementing riskier cons to make up for shortfalls.

During one of those cons, Sam met a man who claimed to be a doctor. Ely Torres said he was from Paragon City and had worked at a pharmaceutical company in one of the corporation's research departments. He had fled to the Rogue Isles to escape arrest for the murder of his wife and was desperate to clear his name. Over the course of several weeks, Ely and Samuel negotiated a deal that would prove Torres' innocence and provide Sam with a new edge in St. Martial - superpowered enforcers. Most of Ely's research and development had dealt with drugs designed to simulate or stimulate meta-human performance in regular individuals. Torres said he could manufacture the drugs and supervise treatments for the McGuire crew, and in exchange they would work for him to help capture the men who had been responsible for setting him up. For nearly a year, the McGuires and their associates pulled a range of dangerous and risky jobs devised by Ely to exonerate him. To hold up his end of the bargain, Torres provided his accomplices with specialized drugs and performed a variety of procedures to turn Casey and the others into meta-humans.

While Samuel believed the arrangement to be beneficial, a number of his runners thought the deal was unwise. They had found information to support Ely's claims, but they couldn't see why they were pulling heists on banks or killing individuals in the Rogue Isles if the setup had been in Paragon. Torres explained the oddities away by claiming they needed financing for the drugs and that the men who had framed him were part of an elaborate conspiracy. Though Casey tended to trust her older brother, she eventually began to question Torres and his motives. When Sam finally conceded the doctor wasn't on the level, he ordered his crew to investigate Torres and find out what was really going on. Before they could make much progress, Torres vanished and the McGuires found themselves in a world of trouble. The financial and electronic protections they'd established to protect themselves collapsed with the doctor's disappearance, exposing them to the anger and retribution of rival gangs and individuals who'd been targeted by Ely. Retaliation was swift and deadly. Almost every member of the McGuire crew was murdered within a few months of Torres' departure, including Samuel. Casey and a few others managed to escape the violence, but none of them know how long that will hold. Or what just happened to Ely Torres and what he was up to in the Rogue Isles.

• Her date of birth is January 1, 1987. Her father was a third generation Irish immigrant in the Etoile Isles, but her mother was an American citizen. Casey is the younger of two children, with her brother Samuel being about ten years her senior. (Or he was before he died.)

• Casey is 5'7", weighs about 135 pounds, has light brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a very pretty singing voice.

• Penelope McGuire, Casey's mother, vanished from the Isles shortly after her daughter's fifth birthday. The official family story is that Penny was avoiding arrest for a scam that went south when the mark ended up dead. There were rumors though that Mitchell McGuire killed his wife for having an affair with one of their neighbors.

• Casey's powers are scientifically created and believed to be permanent. By way of drugs and medical procedures, Casey's nervous system was altered, as were her vocal cords and auditory system. She's able to transduce sound waves and use them to expel energy or stimulate a variety of chemical reactions in her own body and those belonging to others.

• In February 2010, Casey's brother and ten of his accomplices were found in front of one St. Martial's casinos during the early morning hours. They had been shot in the head and then eviscerated. No witnesses came forward with any information, and Casey was nowhere to be found after the murders. The crimes remain unsolved.