Iron Maiden (Leah Wright)
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Contents
Background
Formative Years
Leah Wright knows the criminal mind well. She and her two younger siblings grew up among criminals. Leah was the result of a debauched weekend her mother spent with an attractive stranger. She's never met her father. Her mother has lived with a series of men throughout Leah's childhood, including a drug dealer for several years. Family and acquaintances included other dealers, prostitutes, thieves and fences. Leah has witnessed drug deals, overdoses, violent disagreements, and countless other crimes plotted or the proceeds divided. On more than one occasion Leah had to barricade herself and her siblings away from one of her mother's drunked, enraged boyfriends, or sneak them out of the house, even brandish a firearm to keep him at bay.
Leah's mother neglected her children, whom she saw as impediments to her pursuit of sex, drugs and rock n' roll. She thought nothing of leaving them unattended for a day, for a night, or all weekend. Leah cared for her younger brother and baby sister on those occasions—somebody had to do it More than once, Leah and her siblings were whisked away to a new home--sometimes with their mother, sometimes without--with nothing but the clothes on their backs, forced to abandon everything else, including treasured possessions. They were occasionally sent to live with distant relatives for weeks or months before their mother arrived without warning to reclaim them. By the time she was a teenager, Leah was the primary caregiver for her siblings, and was working a part-time job not for pocket money but for necessities like food or rent, or having the power turned back on—somebody had to do it.
Leah hated her home life. She was appalled by the stupidity and venality of the people around her, including her mother. Didn't they see how badly they were screwing up their lives? Drunkenness, drugs, "easy" money that led to prison time if they were lucky and to the hospital or the morgue if they weren't. How could they be so blind? Only rarely, in moments of bleak depression, was she tempted by any of these things. Mostly she saw the world with a sharp edged clarity that nobody else around her seemed capable of.
She loved school. Her only responsibility there was to learn. Education was her ticket out and she meant to take it. She taught herself how to move in polite society by reading etiquette books, intending from an early age to escape the dismal world she inhabited. Reading had been her favorite escape for as long as she could remember, especially old pulp novels in which good and evil were clearcut and heroes invariably triumphed over villains. It was a world Leah desperately wished she could experience and she began writing, creating new adventures for her favorite characters, to fill that need—and thus discovered her passion. She loved writing. It was hard work, but for the first time in her life she was working hard at something she enjoyed, simply because she enjoyed it.
Leah graduated high school, started college and continued writing. She was selling short fiction regularly now, and working on novels. She even found time to date now and then. Leah cut off all ties to her family save for her brother and sister; the rest were unrepentant users and she refuses to allow them to draw her back into their lives. She graduated college and continues to work part-time managing the office for a small machine shop--the same job she's had since she was a teenager--while she works at becoming a full-time writer.
Leah's sister, Ellen, now twenty-two, remained in high school at her insistence though she never attended college. She married badly, divorced quickly, and lives with an abusive boyfriend Leah detests. Leah fears she is doomed to follow in their mother's footsteps. Ellen remembers their childhood fondly, mostly because Leah had shielded her from the worst of it. Her brother, Ben, fell into the criminal life despite everything Leah could do. Ben drank heavily, used drugs, and was repeatedly jailed for petty crimes before finally dying of a drug overdose. His death wasn't terribly surprising, though her failure with Ben weighed heavily on Leah, who had continued trying to help him long after she recognized him as a lost cause.
A Life Changing Discovery
It was during her college years that she discovered her powers. There was no dramatic conflict, no radiation-fueled or otherwise seemingly unsurvivable incident. She simply found herself capable of flight. Experimentation soon led her to discover her strength and invulnerability as well. She did not immediately leap to become a super heroine. She has a life, thank you very much--a life she's worked very hard to create for herself. She assembled an all-black ensemble to hide her in the night sky as she explored (and reveled in) her power to fly, which she did almost every night.
But she's got too much sense of responsibility to ignore situations where she can make a difference. She started by rescuing people from accidents or natural disasters. threats not of their own making; how could she not? And if she can stop violent criminals and prevent them from hurting people--again, how could she not? She can fly, she's virtually invulnerable now, and superhumanly strong. She has nothing to fear from most criminals. She saw far too much pain, fear and misery as a child and is determined that no other little girls will endure what she lived through, not if she can help it.
After one such incident, in which she intervened to stop another superhumanly strong criminal, she was referred to by one of the responding cops as the iron maiden. A reporter heard, used the quote in the paper, and the name stuck. Given the many possible alternatives, Leah was happy with it.
Personality/Motivation
Leah is intelligent, perceptive, and fiercely independent. She finds it difficult to trust the judgment of others, preferring to assess a situation firsthand. She works hard to anticipate other people's actions and reactions, and to organize her life so as to minimize her dependence on others or her vulnerability should they let her down.
A childhood of negelct and abuse (emotional, if not physical) has left its mark on her. Leah is constantly assessing her environment for threats and is very sensitive to to the emotions and intents of those around her. She is remarkably level-headed in a crisis, a skill she acquired by hard experience. She may break down later on, but never until the emergency is over. Leah can be quite a hedonist when she feels secure enough to let her guard down, but it doesn't happen often. She rarely drinks and never uses any other mind-altering substances. Leah believes in personal responsibility; she has high standards for friendship, and no patience for people who are unwilling to accept responsibility for themselves. By the same token, she'll move heaven and earth for those who deserve it or for whom she feels responsible. She can be charming when she chooses to be, but being a smart-ass is often more fun.
Leah enjoys writing and intends to make a career of it. She also enjoys tinkering with computers and software, and playing on the internet.. She corresponds with numerous on-line friends via instant messaging programs and maintains online journals where she writes about her life, posts some of her own fiction as well as fanfic. She also enjoys attending movies, plays, and trying out various restaurants with her friends.
Since coming out as a superheroine, Leah has taken to the superheroic lifestyle with enthusiasm. Her motives are two-fold. First, if someone is in danger—especially through no fault of their own—and she can help them, how could she not? If she can prevent or mitigate the effects of accidents or crimes, she will—it's the right thing to do. Second, the strangers whose lives or livelihoods she's saved tend to be grateful for the help, which is more than she could ever say about most of her family. After a lifetime of largely thankless work to care for and protect her siblings, it's nice to get some recognition.
Leah works at keeping her two lives—as Leah Wright and as Iron Maiden—completely separate. A novel by Iron Maiden might be wildly successful, if only as a novelty, but that's not what she wants. She wants to succeed by virtue of her talent, not her celebrity.
Abilities
Flying Brick
Leah's powers all stem from a common source--an unconscious telekinetic ability limited by her ability to touch things. She maintains a nearly impenetrable force field which protects her from most injuries as well as from extreme pressure or vacuum, and extremes of temperature. She is able to fly using her telekinetic powers. She is also superhumanly strong, able to exert her telekinetic powers on anything she touches--making it possible for her to lift, catch or throw massive items even when she shouldn't have the leverage to do so, or when the objects would realistically collapse from the forces being exerted on them.
Leah's tactics are fairly simple. She grew up around violence, but rarely engaged in it herself--so she has very little experience with brawling or more sophisticated forms of combat. She tends to throw herself at her opponents, hoping to distract them and keep them focused on her since she's unlikely to be injured. She also likes to seize her opponents and fly away with them, getting them away from bystanders (and potential hostages). Run-ins with considerably more skilled opponents soon demonstrated a need for more finesse. Leah began taking lessons in unarmed combat from a highly-recommended instructor, and has learned a few things since then.
Costume & Character Notes
Costume
Leah's appearance in Champions Online is very close to my original concept. She wears a traditional superhero cape, but in "reality" she chooses to wear a wool coachman's cloak, knee-length with an elbow length mantle. Otherwise, the leather miniskirt, tights, tank top, boots and gloves are pretty much spot on. She designed her costume to be easy to replace without raising suspicions (many, many women own some or all of the parts), and to comply with her-imposed No Spandex! rule.
Character Notes
Iron Maiden has seen play in several Champions games, mostly online. Champions Online is the most recent addition to that list. In addition, Leah/Iron Maiden has appeared in several published short stories and will no doubt appear in others. Her wiki page is Iron Maiden II because there's already an Iron Maiden here.
The source of Leah's powers (though she has not yet discovered this) is that her father was a powerful but philandering superhero in his own right. Her mother never knew. Nor is Leah the only such lovechild. She has a half-sister in London who shares her paternal heritage.
