Intentional Malice
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Intentional Malice and her ninja followers | |
| Intentional Malice | |
| Player: @Masked Revenger | |
| Origin: | Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Mastermind |
| Threat Level: | 20 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Confidential |
| Known Aliases: | Malice |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 25 |
| Height: | 5’4” |
| Weight: | 105 lbs. |
| Eye Color: | Green |
| Hair Color: | Black |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Citizen of Japan |
| Occupation: | Assassin |
| Place of Birth: | A monastery in Japan |
| Base of Operations: | Tokyo, Japan, though currently she lives in the Rogue Islands |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Hiroko (mother), unknown father |
| Known Powers | |
| Ninja, Trick Arrow, Leaping | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Trained in several forms of martial arts, including Ninjitsu. Has also learned to focus and expel her “chi” in bursts of energy, enabling her to leap and dodge bullets. | |
| Equipment | |
| A specially designed compound bow and several arrows, from standard deadly arrows to specialized trick arrows that produce a verity of different effects. | |
| No additional information available. | |
Intentional Malice was created by Masked Revenger after he failed to get a pair of names for some villains he wanted (Malice and Forethought). After creating the toon, however, he saw that she had the potential to become the arch-nemesis of his main (Masked-Revenger), and has worked up a storyline that connects the two on a very intimate level.
Contents |
Personality
Intentional Malice spent her life being raised as a killer, an assassin… in short, a ninja. As such, her personality is rather reserved. She is controlled, quiet, and rarely shares her thoughts with those she works with. Even to those under her command she rarely talks, preferring to give instructions through hand signals.
That said, Yoriko is a very curious young woman, and something of a show off. Often studies her prey in great detail before setting out on the kill. She prefers to kill her target in creative and, if possible, ironic ways.
Powers
Intentional Malice is trained in several forms of martial arts, including Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Kung-Fu, Judo and Ninjitsu, and holds black belts in all of them. She is also trained in the use of several weapons, including swords, bows and firearms, but prefers the bow.
Ninja
Despite her young age, Yoriko has mastered everything her dojo had to teach her, and has risen to a leadership position in her ninja clan. As such, a small number of ninja have been placed under her command. These are intensely loyal ninja, who will obey her every order, even going as far as killing themselves if she ordered it.
Trick Arrows
As well as being an accomplished martial artist, Yoriko is also an incredibly intelligent woman, and as soon as she had the extra time, she started inventing these trick arrows for use on her missions. They are amazingly diverse, ranging from a net arrow to a flash arrow that blinds opponents, and she adds new ones every day. On missions where stealth is required, she tends to not use these, sticking to the standard, deadly verity of arrows.
Leaping
As part of her training at her ninja dojo, Intentional Malice has learned how to focus her internal energy (chi) and to release that energy in new and surprising ways. One way that all ninja of her clan are trained in is to release the energy through the legs, allowing her to leap large distances or great heights. She is capable of leaping from the ground to the roof of a single story building in one jump. She can even leap back and forth between two close buildings to gain even greater heights.
Character History
The woman that would one day become Intentional Malice was born in a monastery somewhere in the mountains of Japan. Her mother, known only as Hiroko, named her Yoriko. The monastery was a secret training ground for a clan of ninja, and from an early age, Yoriko was schooled in their lifestyle. Her mother was a very angry woman, and most of that anger seemed to be aimed at her mysterious father, whose name she never learned. Apparently, her father had been a member of the clan, a head of a branch in China, and had somewhere along the line betrayed the clan, leaving it, her mother and her when Yoriko was only 2. This anger her mother had rubbed off on Yoriko, but her ninja masters taught her how to focus it and control it, rather than allowing it to control her.
Trying to escape her angry, abusive mother, Yoriko threw herself into her training. She learned everything her masters taught her, soaking it up like a sponge, and making it a part of who she was. At an early age, she was assigned to a ninja master and assisted him on several jobs. At first, her duties were limited to scouting and lookout, but eventually, her master deemed her ready, and she took her first kill. She did it was such glee and flair, that the master reported it had been done with intentional malice, and this earned her praise from the masters back at the monastery. The phrase stuck, and eventually it became her nick name. Yoriko decided that it was her true name, and stopped responding to Yoriko, becoming Intentional Malice in mind and spirit.
Eventually, she was allowed to work alone, and she excelled in that arena as well. Finally, at the age of 25, she was made a master. She was given command of a small group of ninja, and began their training right away. Her new group gathered, she ran a few simple missions with them, not only to test her loyalty to her, but to prove her leadership skills to her masters. She knew that some day soon they would entrust her with an important mission, and she did not want to let them down.
The Masked-Revenger
She was right, of course. It wasn’t long before her masters came to her with a new, special assignment. Apparently, the clan’s branch in America had been contacted by a corporation called Crey. They wanted a superhero that had been causing them problems assassinated, and they wanted nothing to be traced back to them. Never before had any ninja in her clan killed a super-hero. The clan heads felt that Yoriko, with her sense of flair combined with her intensity, would be perfect for the job. She met with the masters, who showed her all the data that Crey had provided her with on this super-hero. He called himself Masked-Revenger, and wore a gaudy outfit of red and yellow. The file provided copious amounts of detail, including his real name, residence, place of work and the school he attended. It also provided details on his personal relationships, and provided pictures of his girlfriend and her young brother.
Then, she watched a video of this man in action. He was a martial artist, with no real super powers to speak of. But as she watched, she noticed something. His fighting style was remarkably similar to that taught by her clan. How was this possible? That was when her masters pulled her aside. This mission was more important than a simple contract kill. According to the information provided by Crey, this Masked-Revenger character had been trained by a man known only as Ming. Ming, they told her, was once a member of the clan, one of the few outsiders (a Chinese man) who had been brought into the fold. Several years ago, Ming had betrayed the clan, killing his master and fleeing. They had been unable to find him since. Now, it appears as if Ming has passed on his knowledge to a young American man. Malice was to go to the United States, use Masked-Revenger to find Ming, and then kill them both.
The Rogue Islands
In order to comply with Crey’s request of a lack of connection, Yoriko and her masters both agreed the best thing to do would be to set her up as a “super-villain.” As she already called herself Intentional Malice, this was a simple matter of designing her a “costume.” Thanks to some contacts in the Rogue Islands, she was quickly settled into her new home, and began setting about getting a reputation as a villain. She worked with other villains, performed villainous tasks, such as robbing banks and kidnapping, and even took the occasional contract kill. She has even joined a villain group, The Rogue Knights. With phase 1 of her plan nearly complete, it won’t be long before Intentional Malice sets her site on her true goal… the Masked-Revenger and his master, Ming.
The End of Innocence
After watching and observing for several weeks, Intentional Malice finally made her move. She had already identified Patricia and Jason Andrasofszky as people that Masked-Revenger cared about in his secret identity of Robert Ryan, and thus were the biggest weakness he had. They would be her tools. Following from a distance, she watched as Robert, Patricia and Jason all met at the University for a lunch. As they walked across the quad, she lifted her bow, took aim, and fired. The arrow flew true, and struck the young boy, Jason, killing him instantly. She watched as a stunned and shocked Robert noticed that there was writing on the arrow itself. “M-R, meet me where it began for you – IM.” She left immediately, contacted her ninja henchmen, and moved to the next phase of her plan, setting camp on the roof tops near the Mega Mart where Masked-Revenger worked in his secret identity.
He didn’t arrive until later that night, but it was in costume, and that made Malice smile. She had her ninja ambush him, and watched as he fought them all off. His skills had improved considerably since the film she had seen of him was made. She was impressed. This could truly be a worthy opponent. Eventually, she stepped out of the shadows, an arrow knocked and pointed directly at his neck, ending the fight. She introduced herself as Intentional Malice. She explained that she had a contract to kill him, but that she wasn’t ready to do so quite yet. She wanted to play with him for a while first. Then, she let him go. As she had expected, his first instinct was to find his mentor, Ming. She followed, seeing now for the first time her true target.
She listened in as Ming explained his history to Masked-Revenger. Ah! He had kept his past a secret even from his own disciple. The man was obviously a coward. Finally, the conversation turned to her, and she grew more intent.
“Who is she, Ming?” Masked-Revenger asked.
“She is my daughter.”
Malice was so stunned that she immediately fled. Was this true? Could Ming really be the man her mother had hated all these years? And was she really being asked to kill her own father? In the matter of a few brief hours, her entire world had been turned upside down.
