Red Diamond
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Red in her work clothes | |
| Red Diamond | |
| Player: Wildwind | |
| Origin: | Science |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Brute |
| Threat Level: | Confidential |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Kellye O'Donnell |
| Known Aliases: | Kylie Starr, Rachel Redding, Shannon O'Malley |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 17 |
| Height: | 5'5" |
| Weight: | 135 lbs. |
| Eye Color: | Brown |
| Hair Color: | Brown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | USA |
| Occupation: | Security Agent |
| Place of Birth: | Paragon City, USA |
| Base of Operations: | Port Oakes, Rogue Isles |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | None noteworthy |
| Known Powers | |
| Perpetual kinetic energy field | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Kinetic field blunts the force of all physical and energy attacks, rendering her effectively invulnerable. Kinetic field can be manipulated to deliver blows of staggering force, and to allow her to propel herself remakrable distances. | |
| Equipment | |
| highly durable clothing | |
| Red Diamond insisted at her arraignment for murder charges that her powers were the result of secret experiments performed on her against her will at the boarding school she was attending in Paragon City. Arachnos files show her as a science origin, giving some credence to this. FBSA and Longbow files register her as a Mutant. | |
Don't you draw the Queen of Diamonds, boy; she'll beat you if she's able. --The Eagles, "Desperado"
Red is my first (and presently only) redside character. Still just a girl in a lot of ways, caught between desperate circumstances and a desire to do something--anything--she can believe in, she fights as much to justify her own existence as anything else. Red puts on a tough facade, knowing this is what she must do to survive in the Isles... but inside her impenetrable kinetic shell she is far more vulnerable than she cares to admit.
Contents |
Background
Childhood, boarding school, and Project Apotheosis
Born in Paragon City to well-off parents, Kellye at an early age gained a sense that she was not really wanted. While her parents never hesitated to spend money on her, she found that more often than not as a child she was left to her own devices. Her parents rarely seemed to have time for her, and only seemed to notice when she did something wrong... a kind of attention she quickly decided she did not want. Her suspicions were ultimately confirmed when her parents shipped her off to the elite Bayside Academy. Though it was not far from the city at all, she was to live at the school full-time. Though she had occasional breaks, she soon learned that her parents had no real desire to see her when she came home, and after a year at the school began to simply stay there when all the other students left.
Where some girls might have become depressed at such treatment at home, Kellye found herself angry. Fury proved to be a strong motivator for her, and she quickly rose to the head of her class, determined to prove to her parents that she was not only worth their time, but worth more than them at all. Though her intensity intimidated some of her fellow classmates, Kellye was well-liked by the other students, and her seemingly limitless time for student activities--the time she was not spending with her family--meant she was involved with nearly every social circle at the school.
The sense of acceptance she gained from her classmates took some of the edge off her anger, but it diminished her drive not at all. By her junior year, she was engaged in a friendly competition with one of the boys in her class, named Billy Jacobs, for Valedictorian honors. At the same time, she found herself growing attracted to this young man, the gallant if somewhat reserved son of a Paragon City Councilman. On more than one occasion thereafter, she spent her breaks with *his* family rather than her own.
Things suddenly took a turn for the worse midway through her junior year. Suddenly she began having fits of violent illness. On several occasions she passed out in the middle of class, and for weeks afterward spent more time in the nurse's office than she did in the classroom. The on-staff doctors seemed puzzled at the cause of her illness, though they gave her constant attention. Specialists from outside the school were called in to examine her, but seemed to make no progress at all.
Then, one day, after fainting in class yet again, she awoke in a different environment altogether. Bound to a table, she was surrounded by men and women in white labcoats, some of them the same "specialists" who had visited her over the previous weeks. They did not seem to notice her awakening at first, and she closed her eyes, wishing it was all a dream. She heard them talking about her, then... whispering words about energy levels, and genetic acceleration, and other terms whose meanings she could only guess at, but had little to do with treating an illness. One of them spoke of a project, called Apotheosis, and of reporting their progress. She realized, to her horror, that these people were not treating her illness at all... they were *causing* it, by experimenting on her against her will. Then she felt a stab of pain in her arm as she was injected.
Agony blazed through her veins like fire, spreading to her entire body... and in that same moment, the experiment bore its terrible fruit. The pain, and the shock of the truth, pushed her into rage, and her power manifested explosively. Breaking loose from her restraint, she wrecked the lab, killing three of the "specialists" who tried to stop her before she eve realized what she was doing. Heavily-armed security guards, like might be expected at a military base, converged on her... and she killed two of them, injuring several more in her drive to escape.
Most tragically, one more died at her hands that day. as she fled down a hallway, someone grabbed her arm, calling her name. Running on fear-driven instinct, she lashed out... and killed Billy Jacobs, her best friend, in an accident that haunts her to this day.
She fled the scene in rage and grief. Shocked by what had happened, and by what she'd done, she went into hiding. Seeing the news reports that branded her as a murderess, she ditched her school uniform and stole clothes from a department store. She spent what little money she had left on food, but it was not enough... she had to shoplift in order to eat, and it was that which led to her capture. While her powers made her nearly indestructible, one of Paragon's famous Vindicators was able to wear her down until finally she collapsed from exhaustion.
Arraignment, The Zig, and Breakout
At her arraignment, against the advice of her government-appointed lawyer (her parents disowned her when she was arrested, refusing to even pay for her legal counsel), she vigorously pleased her case. The school, though, provided witness after witness who told the court that she had simply "snappped" and gone berserk, assaulting the school's medical staff, security, and even her fellow students! In the face of such overwhelming testimony, and her inability to provide any evidence of these experiments, she was indicted on multiple counts of murder... to be tried as an adult for her crimes.
It did not help her case that she could not give blood for testing. The government's lawyers insisted she was a mutant, and blood testing might have been able to disprove this. Unfortunatley, the power restraint systems with which she'd been fitted could not shut off her kinetic field... they could only shut down her conscious control over it. The result was a barrier she could not sufficiently weaken to be tested. The government considered this an acceptable situation, for it also prevented her from using her kinetic field offensively to escape.
Thrown in the Zig, she was still waiting for trial two months later when Arachnos staged their breakout, whisking her away to the Rogue Isles. She was reluctant to go, knowing it would only damn her further in the eyes of the law, but a little psychic prodding from one of the Fortunata was sufficient to overcome her resistance.
The Rogue Isles
Once in the Isles, however, Kellye refused to work for Arachnos. Signing on with a local mercenary to get money to eat, she found herself fighting a familiar adversary... Longbow. Having fought Longbow more than once in her short life on the run, she'd quickly developed an intense dislike for them. The fact that even in the Rogue Isles they seemed to be gunning for her did little to improve her impression of them, and she found herself going out of the way to take on jobs that antagonized the "hero" organization. In one such raid, she found herself in possession of several bits of Longbow equipment, including a small supply of that familiar red-and-white Longbow armorweave. Unable to afford a costume of her own, she had one fashioned from this material, complete with mask. Drawing from the color, and from the impenetrable hardness of her kinetic field, she took on the nom de guerre of Red Diamond.
Still, Red was a reluctant villain at best, and the more she stole, the less she liked herself. Her profit margins were thin, and while she was acquiring a reputation as a tough customer, it was getting difficult to make ends meet. The fact that her powers required her to eat well more than most people scarcely helped this. Needing to pay the bills, she began to look for other opportunities.
The Rogue Register
Ironically, it was her considerable appetite, and her inability to feed it, that led her to such a chance. A gathering sponsored by the renegade Rogue Register newspaper promised free food along with social discussion. Being both hungry and lonely, Red found herself at the event. It was there that she met Caitlin Eyck, one of the proprietors of the newspaper. Realizing that an organization that made a habit of antagonizing most of the powerful forces in the Rogue Isles would need security, and thinking this was something better she could do than thievery, she asked for a job, and was given one.
Now with a little money, and a chance to think about her direction in life, she's crafted a new look for herself, and is taking to her new role with relish...
Personality
Red Diamond is something of an unusual case in the Rogue Isles. For all that she has blood on her hands, she is in many ways she is still an innocent, still rather naive about the way society works. She is an idealist, and she believes in doing good... and while she recognizes that most of the forces working in the world are not so altrustic--even those that claim to be--the truly devious nature of how these forces operate is somewhat foreign to her.
Red is an entirely straightforward person, having very little subtlety about her. She is intensely loyal to those whom she trusts, and yet at the same time is determined to maintain her own independence. She's been used before, and she doesn't want to be used again... but at the same time, she's fully aware that her innocence and idealism make her an attractive target to manipulators. She is open and honest, and expects others to be open and honest with her. Those who are not will find themselves targets of her dislike, and even anger.
Red has an explosive temper, and possibly the greatest struggle in her life is keeping it under control. With her power, if she lets herself go she is capable of incredible mayhem... and she's seen what that power can do. She is haunted by nightmares of killing her closest friend, and this tempers her rage a little, forcing her to keep herself in check. Even so, she can be provoked... but to do so may be to one's peril.
Red detests killing, and dislikes thievery. She never wanted to be a villain, or a criminal. If she felt it could be done fairly, she would willingly stand trial for all her crimes, even those she committed after the fact. She hates her power because without it, her friend would yet live. She is fearful to get too close to anyone, and especially fearful of intimacy, for fear of losing control and accidentally killing someone dear to her again.
Even so, she will not surrender. She will kill before she will be killed. She will kill to defend those who *do* get close to her. She will do what must be done to further causes she believes in, but will limit herself to what she believes must be done. In her life, she has two driving goals. To avenge herself upon whatever organization was behind Project Apotheosis--the men who ruined her life--and to clear her name of the murder of her friend. If she can do those things, she will be ready for whatever consequences her actions have brought. Be it life in the Zig... or even death.
Personality Update
With the help of the few friends and allies she has been able to make in the Isles, Red has begun to come to terms with her power and with herself. She recognizes now that what happened to her was not really her fault; there was little she could have done to prevent it, except perhaps to remain the pawn of those who were experimenting on her, and she knows that decision would have led her to even greater evil. More than that, however, she has found that her power can serve a higher purpose. Having taken on the mantle of a hero in the Isles, she has found that her power can save lives as well as take them.
Furthermore, continuous combat since her arrival in the Isles has cultivated an enjoyment of using those powers. The threshold was perhaps crossed when she first began to find herself fighting opponents who could endure the full brunt of her powers and survive the experience--able to cut loose without guilt, she found that the sensations produced by pushing her limits were quite pleasurable.
She has also become somewhat less resistant to physical contact, at least by those near to her. This is as much a result of loneliness as anything else... being locked away inside her barrier left finally became more than she could tolerate in the presence of those for whom she cares. This willingness is not generally extended to strangers.
Powers
Invulnerability
Red's kinetic field absorbs energy from all physical or energy attacks directed against her person. It provides her resistance against all forms of assult except psionics and contact poisons. This energy field is *always* up, unless she consciously lowers it. If she is subjected to power inhibition, the field will remain on, but she will not be able to alter its intensity.
The energy field glows red whenever any object or focused energy contacts it. Anyone who tries to touch her when the field is up, as it is nearly all the time, will find that it feels as though she is made of diamond... hence the name.
Energy Melee
Red is capable of focusing and intensifying her energy field to deliver powerful kinetic strikes with her fists, feet, or body. These blows are powerfully concussive and can stun even strong enemies.
Super Jump
Red can "push" on the earth, and to a lesser extent on the air around her, in order to leap fantastic heights and distances with a limited degree of in-air directional control. It took her some practice to learn how to do this without leaving craters on takeoff and landing.
Fitness
Red was already in excellent physical condition before the experiments on her body began. Her accelerated metabolism enhances this to metahuman levels.
Allies
Rain of Radiation - Dr. Eyck is Red's employer, but Red's view of the doctor is somewhat more complex than that. To a very real extent, Red has entrusted her future to Dr. Eyck and to the Rogue Register. It is through her, and her organization, that she hopes to find a measure of redemption for herself. Even more so, it is through her that she hopes to achieve her two driving goals as mentioned above.
Enemies
Arachnos - Red quite literally told Kalinda to go screw herself for the trouble of breaking her out of the Zig. Ever since then, she's antagonized "the spiders" at almost every chance. As one of the "Destined Ones", supposedly, she has yet to have their full wrath called down on her head. Sometimes, she wonders what they're waiting for.
Longbow - Red has hated Longbow since she put three of them in the hospital while on the lam in Paragon City. She didn't want to fight, and they forced the issue. She's never quite forgiven them for that. She also detests the presence of Longbow in the Isles, as she believes they have no legal right to be there. For Longbow's part, they've been after her with a vengeance since she stole a supply shipment out of one of their bases.
Wyvern - In keeping with Red's distaste for "foreign interventionists" as her boss has been known to call them, she has found herself tangling with them on several occasions. The animosity is quite mutual.
Quotes
"Why do people who talk about 'improving' kids not realize that perhaps those kids don't want to be 'improved'? Someone thought they could make me 'better', and now my best friend is dead and my life is wrecked."
"I have a great disrespect for Longbow, too, but you don't see me running around pretending to be a peppermint."
"People ask me why I wear armored clothes. Pretty obvious if you ask me; the outfit has to be able to survive the same kinds of things I can. Otherwise, I end up fighting naked. That might be an effective tactical distraction, but I'm an enforcer, not a stripper."
