Nicole Brody
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Nicole Brody and Ivan Cross, back to back. | |
| Nicole Brody | |
| Player: Primana | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Blaster |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Molly Nicole Cross |
| Known Aliases: | Nicky |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 21 |
| Height: | 5'2"/5'5" in costume |
| Weight: | 110 |
| Eye Color: | Blue |
| Hair Color: | Brown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Current: Hero. Former: Student/Waitress |
| Place of Birth: | Paragon City, RI |
| Base of Operations: | Confidential |
| Marital Status: | Married |
| Known Relatives: | Ivan Cross (husband); Marisa Kirste Danielle Cross (daughter); Thomas Cross (step-son); Christopher St. John Cross a.k.a. "Sinjin"(step-son); Martin Brody (father); Nadine Brody (mother); Michael Brody (brother); Martin Brody Jr. (brother) |
| Known Powers | |
| Energy blasts and energy-based concussive blows. Projects protective energy shield. Flight. Enhanced reflexes. | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Exceptionally skilled computer user. Knowledge of small arms. | |
| Equipment | |
| Hero standards: wrist comm unit, HUD, hospital transporter. | |
| Nicky has close ties with the PPD, especially the Kings Row precincts. Michael Brody is in the power-armor SWAT division. Marty Brody is a beat cop. | |
Nicole Brody was created by Primana, who can be reached online via the global @Primana. The intention was to create a normal person who had to grapple with the sudden fame and power that came with becoming a hero. Nicole Brody is Primana's first Level 50 character, despite playing the game since opening day.
Contents |
Personality
Nicole Cross (nee Brody) is generally optimistic and cheerful. If Nicky stops making wisecracks, the situation has turned dire. She's been known to return from a state of near-death with only a comment that she'd have returned sooner but "Hendrix was giving a concert". Before becoming a hero (and indeed in the first few months afterwards), Nicky was shy and quiet around people she didn't know, particularly around men. She has, in the year since obtaining her powers, become a confident young woman.
History
Pre-Shard
Nicky was born in Paragon City, grew up in Kings Row, and she knew the rules for surviving there. Her father, Martin Brody, was a policeman with the Paragon Police Department, having followed in the family tradition: the Brodys are all Irish Catholic cops (with the exception of the black sheep of the family who became firemen). Nicky grew up learning how not to be a victim, even when that meant running away, and it usually did. Small, skinny, and shy, she was frequently overlooked in social interactions. Her family alone saw the vibrant, witty girl inside.
When she was fifteen, her father lost a leg during a fight with Hellions (severe burn trauma), and retired from the police force with full benefits. Martin Brody put the money toward a small diner in Kings Row, aptly named Brody's. The diner served mostly coffee, homemade soups, and sandwiches at the time. More recently, the menu has expanded to include more dinner-type meals, and baked goods from a bakery in Kings Row.
Her brothers both applied to the police academy when they were old enough, and both were accepted. Nicky, however, had no such luck. Her eyesight was bad enough that even with glasses she couldn't aim a gun reliably, and she lacked the physical toughness that a cadet needed, especially one in Paragon City. Nicky went to college at PCU on a full scholarship, with a major in Business Administration. She also worked part-time at the diner as a waitress.
Gaining a Shard
During the pre-dawn hours while working at the diner one March morning, Nicky encountered a member of the Circle of Thorns in the alley behind the diner. The Thorn was assaulting a young woman, and Nicky shouted at him to distract him. The victim escaped. When the Thorn turned on her, Nicky threw coffee cups from a nearby rack that she had been unloading from a delivery truck. Her aim was terrible, but the Thorn stepped on the cup and fell. Before it regained its footing, John Talbot appeared to subdue the villain. Talbot, commander of the recently-formed Cerulean Legion, offered a position in the Legion to Nicky.
Post-Shard
Nicky quickly established herself in the Legion, adopting them as a second family. The closeness is partly something Legionnaires call "shard attraction" and partly Nicky's own generous heart. She idolizes John Talbot, and it may be no coincidence that her powers mimic his in almost every respect. Nicky has thrown herself into her hero-work, earning every accolade the city can bestow and almost every badge the city gives for service.
Notable incidents
Nicky was temporarily suspended from the Legion and demoted in rank after an incident in Port Oakes. Ivan Cross was there on a mission from the State Department. His job was to make contact with an agent and, if necessary, give her an exit strategy. The agent, Irimi Tsuke, had been turned, and during her 'extraction', she captured and tortured Ivan Cross. Nicky, who had been opposed to Ivan's going in the first place, felt the damage courtesy of Ivan's burgeoning empathic abilities and their shard connection. She managed to warn the rest of the Legion, who went to Ivan's rescue while she went to the Federal prosecutor's office and let them know about the turned agent. Having thus warned them so they could assess how many other agents were at risk from Irimi Tsuke's knowledge, she joined in the rescue attempt. After a battle aboard a Longbow submarine, Ivan and the crew were rescued. The sub sank, Tsuke escaped. Though the DoD later attempted to portray this as a failure on the part of the Cerulean Legion, it has been rightly pointed out that this was an intelligence failure.
Nicky and then-boyfriend Ivan Cross were instrumental in saving hundreds of lives during disastrous mud slides in Venezuela last year.
The entire Cerulean Legion was the subject of a plot by the Department of Defense, which wanted to gain access to the shards. The Legion was made aware of the plot in time to take counter-measures, but Nicky stepped outside the party line. She took action to get herself suspended from the Legion (including attacking Ivan Cross), and went to the Rogue Isles. The Legion had intel that suggested the DoD would attempt to kidnap Thomas Cross, by then also a shardbearer but a member of the Legion's villanous counter-organization. Nicky assisted the Isles shardbearers in recovering Thomas, and was prosecuted by the DoD for her actions. Nicky counter-sued the DoD, claiming that she had been assisting a foreign government (true, as Arachnos was involved in the rescue as well) against an incursion by illegal forces (true, as the DoD obtained no authority to conduct operations in the Rogue Isles). Though she was arrested and went before a federal grand jury, the case against her was dismissed. The DoD agents involved in the plot were declared "rogue agents", and the DoD issued a statement saying their actions had not been sanctioned by the DoD or the federal government. Not content with that outcome, Nicky filed civil suits against the individuals involved, with the aid of Ivan Cross who was a former federal judge. The amount of money she won in the suits is undisclosed, but she did pay off the mortgage on Brody's diner and purchased an apartment building in Kings Row that she currently leases to Sinjin Cross.
More recently, Nicky died. When she first became a hero, Nicky signed up for a stint with "Medicins Sont Frontieres" or Doctors Without Borders. She was finally called up and went to Africa to assist doctors working in the Central African Republic, where she transported goods to places otherwise unreachable, provided security for the doctors, and helped set up a new hospital in one of the outlying provinces. When the hospital was attacked by guerilla forces, Nicky was already exhausted from her two weeks of near-unending work. She was able to save most of the hospital's inhabitants. Finally, she wrapped her body around that of a small child and took a peppering of automatic gunfire in the back. Despite her shard's potent abilities, she died. When she died, the shard separated from her. However, the shard had managed to heal her wounds enough that the doctors were able to resuscitate her. Ivan Cross flew to Africa and brought her back to Paragon City. Once again lacking a shard and thus having no powers, Nicky's hero status was revoked. Some two months later, Nicky regained her shard, reapplied for hero status, and (after a humiliating trial period during which she was sent to subdue Frostfire) was soon returned to full status and her former security level.
In early December, Nicky was arrested in New York City for public drunkenness, assault and battery, and destruction of private property. Also arrested was fellow Cerulean Legion member, Kirste Kallunki. The two had traveled to New York with a group of friends as part of Nicky's bachelorette party. At one bar, they encountered a group of New York heroes who began to mock Paragon City. Although Kirste originally wanted to fight, Nicky calmed her friend and attempted to make amends. Then one of the New York heroes called Manticore "a faggoty little Robin Hood wanna-be". Nicky broke the woman's jaw, and the resultant brawl destroyed most of the bar they were in at the time. Nicky and Kirste were bailed out by Ivan Cross and John Talbot and sentenced to community service. Additionally, Nicky had to pay to have the bar re-built.
Nicole Brody married Ivan Cross on December the 9th and now lives with him in a two-story apartment in Overbrook. In late April, Nicky discovered she was pregnant and took a temporary leave-of-absence from the Legion that has since become permanent. She is no longer a member of the Cerulean Legion.
