Backlash
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Contents
Appearance
She cuts an impressive 6 feet in height, certainly much taller than your average woman, though average isn't exactly what Trevalyn would be classified as. She's certainly a looker, as are most heroines, with long blond hair, blue eyes, a soft complexion, and an eye-catching figure with long legs and curves in the right places.
She's had a number of costumes throughout the years, some as Stormhawk, her first hero identity, and a number as Backlash as well. While she can be seen wearing some of these from time to time, she's better known for the more modern designs she wears, rather than those older retro pieces from the 80s.
When not in costume she tends to dress down, often feeling comfortable in a pair of jeans and a shirt, though some of her friends have been having a field-day in playing 'dress up', forcing her to select more appropriate garb when going out for a night on the town.
Personality
Often possessing a snide remark or a flowery witticism for nearly any occasion, she can sometimes give the impression of not taking her job too seriously; though when she devotes herself to a task or an idea, she becomes intensely focused upon it.
History
1984 and prior- Aria Trevalyn
She lead a rather plain life compared to most heroes, she wasn't an orphan, didn't grow up in a broken home, wasn't abused, and no one killed her parents. Aria grew up in a middle-class family just outside of Detroit, she went to a private school and earned a high GPA, got her Bachelor's degree in 3 years, and promptly enlisted in the United States Air Force. She had always dreamed of flying and that dream finally came true when she became a pilot and was trusted with flying spy planes over Soviet territory during the Cold-War.
1985-88 - Stormhawk
"How does it feel to be a hero Captain Trevalyn?" "I'm no hero, that title belongs to the boys that pulled me out from behind the Iron Curtain. I'm just a girl that wrecked a plane and is hoping Uncle Sam doesn't send me the bill." Captain Trevalyn to a reporter after her return to the States.
Aria's powers first manifested while she was a pilot in the USAF, the manifestation resulting in the unfortunate crash of a multimillion dollar spy plane. Needless to say, she survived the crash and this ended up resulting in her inevitable discharge from duty; though under honorable terms, the crash drummed up with intentional media sensationalism and properly applied propaganda to make the lucky pilot a hero, who narrowly made a return to her country after a daring rescue.
Embracing this new change after a certain degree of hesitance at first, she adopted her old call-sign "Stormhawk" as a hero moniker and eventually came to don the tights. She worked closely with the USAF during this time, helping to battle with Red heroes on the opposite side of the cold war, as well as helping in domestic crime-fighting as well. She was however, very much a government-oriented heroine, her military service at this time never having truly ended. As the years went on, she began to become increasingly wary about the direction hero programs within the military might be taking, and she started to drift more towards the domestic side of hero affairs. However, it wasn't until after the events of the Phobos Invasion that this withdrawal from military life would occur.
1988 - Star*Guard and the Phobos Shadow Invasion
"You may have stopped us, but now all your lives are forfeit!" The invasion leader as the Furnace went critical
Stormhawk worked alongside a number of other government heroes, but in the 'civilian sector' of heroing she began to meet a number of crime-fighters that she truly began to connect with on a number of levels (some of them including members of the unfortunate 13 that were risen by Takofanes, making the period of the Bloodmoon especially trying for her). The most noteworthy of these heroes she befriended was Stephen Velstaff, better known as Mysterium a well established and known hero. This exposure broadened Aria's horizons as well as her thinking and she began to fall further and further away from her role as one of the military's cold-war weapons.
Late into 1988, a covert plot was discovered by the Star*Guard involving an alien race classified later by the US government as simply 'The Shadows', which is now believed to have been a misinterpretation of the pronunciation of their actual name. Star*Guard brought this to the attention of several world super-powers, but with the tensions of the Cold-War, all of them were hesitant to respond. Stormhawk, Mysterium, and a number of heroes from other countries, including the Soviet Union and China, went against the wishes of their governments to assist Star*Guard.
The 'invasion' as it was later termed was a Questionite mining operation, being staged from the moon Phobos. Through use of a Shadow Furnace, the 'Shadow' were intentionally siphoning off the sun's energy, to bring about a rapid and premature death of the star. Luckily, Star*Guard, with the assistance of a number of earth's heroes, were able to shut down the furnace and end the operation, but not without great cost. A member of Star*Guard perished, as well as one of the Soviet Union's heroes, Scarlet Hammer. The cost however almost became higher still when the 'Shadow' chose to overload the Shadow Furnace in an attempt to kill the heroes, it threatening to discharge all of the raw energy that had been drained off the sun already. Unsure if she could do so or not, Stormhawk contained the blast as best she could by absorbing the resulting explosion into her own body. Originally thought to have been vaporized by the daring move which spared the other heroes, her form, rippling with untold amounts of energy, was later found at the bottom of a crater in the Antarctic.
1989+ - Backlash
Shortly after the Phobos incident Stormhawk made her return to the hero life, though she began to distance herself further still from the military, especially after events in 1990 which resulted in a serious falling out between her and the USAF. After breaking away from serving as a hero associated with the US government she adopted the name Backlash, leaving the old Stormhawk moniker behind, the new name also befitting the new abilities she had discovered after her exposure to the energies of the Shadow Furnace. Returning to Detroit, Backlash saw to helping deal with any super-powered and mundane criminal threats she could assist with, sometimes leaving the city to help with affairs elsewhere as well. It was during this time that a relationship began to brew between her and the hero Mister Mysterium, who was rumored to be a potential candidate for the rank of Archmage, should a new one be needed. Everything was going fine for here, and she had become a well recognized name in the papers, she was becoming the heroine she wished to be.
1990 Project Blacklight
TOP SECRET For information about Project Blacklight, find out ICly as it is plot related!
1992 The Battle of Detroit
"Oof! You insignificant worm, no one challenges the will of Dr Destroyer and lives!" Dr Destroyer to Backlash during the Battle.
"Don't worry, we'll stop him, Aria. Whatever it takes!" Vanguard to Backlash
Along with many other heroes, Aria fought in the Battle of Detroit against Doctor Destroyer and his forces. At this point she was well integrated in the heroic-community and had a great many friends and colleagues that also donned the tights, friends who stood alongside her in Detroit. Being that the motor city was her hometown, Aria felt a great obligation in helping defend her 'home turf'. Unfortunately, as history shows, Detroit was destroyed though the world was saved, and many heroes were lost. Backlash was thought to have died in the struggle as well, though it would later (much later) be found that she had survived through her energy absorption powers and the efforts from the now deceased Mister Mysterium, a mystical hero and her paramour at the time. Her survival however would not be made known to the public and she instead spent the time in a coma within a restorative stasis chamber hidden away in a secret government medical center.
2004 Emergence
"I saw a lot of terrible things, I remember a lot of terrible things, we all do, every one of us that made it through that day...I'm not ready to go through that again." Aria Trevalyn
In 2004 Aria came out of her coma to a world that had greatly changed over the 7 year period since Destroyer had rained destruction down upon Detroit. Millennium City was nothing like what she remembered, the majority of her allies were dead or retired, her parents had passed away, and her closest friends had perished with Detroit. The psychological and physical trauma she had suffered from the event was great and it took time for her to recuperate. At this point she had decided to never don a costume again and retired to a mundane life.
2009 Return of Backlash
"If I sit idly by while bad things happen to good people, that doesn't make me a very good person." Backlash explaining her return to heroics
Aria kept her head down, out of the spotlight, avoiding absolutely anything that had to do with being a hero for 5 years. It wasn't until the Qu'lar invasion of Millennium City that she decided to get involved once more. The potential devastation that was faced was something she could not stand idly by and witness, it reminding her far too much of the terrible act that Detroit had suffered through at the hands of Dr Destroyer. Once more she donned her costume and answered the call. Many people don't remember Backlash, and those that do often assume that she died during the Battle of Detroit like so many others. She's returned to only a slight amount of publicity and surprise from the media, but her return for the most part has gone unnoticed.
The Statesmen
"Statesmen, Assemble! Oh come on...it has a good ring to it!" Backlash
The offer to join the Statesmen as a representative for Millennium City was one that surprised Aria and was also one that she met with a great deal of hesitation. She had worked for the federal government before back when she used the name Stormhawk, and she had definite reservations after what had occurred in the aftermath of the Phobos Invasion and Project Blacklight. The chance to represent and officially protect her city was one that she in the end couldn't pass up, so she took the offer. She moved up the ranks of the Statesmen much faster than she ever anticipated and at first viewed this with a great deal of pride. However, as time has passed she's begun to have reservations once more, especially when it comes to the red tape that she's had to deal with.
UNTIL
"There's terrible evil in this world and to stop it we need to be the best we can possibly be. Whatever it takes!" Backlash
Recently Backlash has become associated with UNTIL and a member of UNITY and has become tasked with heroic operations outside of the United States which has increased her number of duties and resulted in her spending less and less time with her fellow Statesmen. This has inevitably created a slight rift between she and her co-heroes, some of which feel likely feel she has become far too serious when it comes to her heroic duties. An event recently occurred while working with UNITY that has noticeably changed the heroine's outlook, driving her to push to become the absolute best she can be, for the sake of everyone and everything she cares about. "Whatever it takes." has become her new personal motto, though unlike some heroes and contrary to the statement she still follows a very strict code.
Powers
- Energy Absorption: Gifted with a mutation that allows her to absorb many different types of energy, from kinetic to the raw primordial elements, Aria maintains the power without any conscious effort. In the early years of her heroing, it was assumed that this talent made her nearly impervious, but she's learned through the years that psychics and especially magic can bypass this ability, leaving her quite vulnerable. The amount of energy she can absorb, while certainly high, is not limitless. If she takes on too much she can completely overwhelm her systems, which can end in either a large involuntary discharge of energy, unconsciousness, or sometimes both. At one point during her history she took on an extraordinary amount of energy to protect her fellows during a mission on one of Mars' moons, when she had worked alongside members of the Star*Guard. She's never dared (or had to) try taking on anything of a comparable level since.
- Energy Manipulation: Though she didn't originally possess this power, after the events on Phobos, her return to Earth marked the appearance of some new abilities. The energy she absorbed from the Shadow furnace when it went critical never entirely faded from her, and for some reason it has lingered, leaving her partially charged at all times. She believes that because of this she may not be able to take on as much energy as she probably could have in the past, and due to this, hasn't exactly put it to the test. However, she has also now developed the ability to discharge energy built up within her biological systems in the form of powerful controlled bursts, form little arcing streams of electric current, to massive blasts of thunderous fury.
- Energy Sap: Recently Aria has been discovering new potential for her ability to absorb energy. In the past it was something she simply did unconsciously, when harm was often intended upon her, but she recently found several new applications. She's begin to find that she can sap the power out of objects such as batteries, or a simple electrical socket. More curious, and frightening to her, is the ability to sap the biological energy from another being. She's only used this in a few applications, and not entirely intentionally in some, but has found it a good means to counter the troublesome healing factors of some particularly dangerous villains. She's not sure how far this power goes, nor is she entirely sure she wants to find out.
- Flight: Aria always wanted to fly, like many people, luckily for her she was granted that childhood wish when her powers first developed in the mid 80s. It isn't however limited to only earthbound flight, as she discovered in 1990.
- Super Strength: Another natural manifestation of her powers. Aria is strong, stronger than any normal human has a right to be. While always in a state of extreme potential strength, when supercharged with energy, she can use this to further push her strength to new levels. Because of this she often has to hold back against lesser threats, but isn't entirely against letting loose when the time is right.
Friends and Foes
A little detached from the contemporary hero community, Backlash has had some difficulty connecting since her recent return to donning a costume.
- Lady Incendiary: A fellow Statesmen as well as her closest friend and confidant.
- Psionistar: A member of Meta-S.W.A.T., Aria has recently come to consider him a valuable ally and friend.
- Doctor Destroyer: Like most heroes out there, she sees Dr Destroyer as a villain beyond the possibility of redemption. However, she also considers him her greatest enemy, understandably so, considering that she's confirmed to have fought at the Battle of Detroit in 1992. She's unwilling to accept the possibility that he may have survived, but recent rumors of his return have put her on edge.
Opinions and Comments from Allies & Enemies
Rumor Mill
Feel free to add rumors if you know or have heard something about Backlash: have at it!
- There were several sightings of Backlash and Dusk Owl engaged in a devastating brawl with one another in downtown Millennium City, which climaxed when a crane was brought crashing down upon Dusk Owl's helpless form. According to several Mercy Hospital staffers who have gone off the record, whatever happened nearly claimed the heroine's life.
- There were rumors abound concerning romantic involvement between Lady Incendiary and Backlash, but this discussion has begun to wane as the two are seen much less frequently in each others presence nowadays. Gossip hints that there may have been a falling out between them.
- Some conspiracy theorists believe that Backlash was killed during the Battle of Detroit and the newly emerged heroine is a brainwashed clone being used by a shadowy government organization as part of a secret super-powered army.
- Superhero blogging enthusiasts hint that Backlash might have designs on leaving the Statesmen due to disagreements with the organization and teammates.
- Backlash has a fondness for cats.
Trivia
- Current Themesongs
Inspiration: Backlash was inspired by a number of heroes and heroines, most notably Ms Marvel, Rogue, Green Lantern, as well as Sebastian Shaw, much of this involving the powers that she possesses, though some inspiration has been drawn from these various characters into her background and personality as well.
RP Hooks
- Backlash has been around doing the hero thing for quite some time, this means she has all kinds of connections to older heroes, many of which are retired or may have died during the Battle of Detroit. She knows a lot about the 'good old days' and is always looking to connect with other heroes who have been in the business for a while.
