Howitzer
Personality
Shira is stoic and quietly determined. She keeps her thoughts to herself and hides her emotions just under the surface. She is loyal and kind-hearted, but also strict and regimented.
Appearance
Although Shira remains as strong as ever thanks to her mutation and good health her body shows the scars and wear of a life filled with conflict and harsh conditions. While she carries herself with purpose and dignity her expression often looks sad and distant. Her age is finally starting to show in the form of grey streaks in her black hair and 'crow's feet' around her eyes. Her hands tend to shake ever so slightly, although this quirk seems to somehow disappear in tense situations.
Religion
Jewish by birth and by choice, Shira doesn't speak about her faith very often. However, it remains a quiet well of strength in her life that she draws from in times of need.
Powers
- War Machine - Howitzer can instigate volatile chain reactions in the particles around her, creating explosions of heat, fire, and kinetic force. On her own this ability is raw and barely controlled, more closely resembling pyrokinesis. With the help of advanced military technology, she can focus her power into potent long range strikes capable of leveling buildings and destroying armored vehicles.
- Special Ops - Shira is a veteran Israeli soldier with nearly two decades of military training and experience. Despite her age and world-weary features she still moves with the same speed and power she had in her prime.
Equipment
The most notable pieces of the Howitzer uniform are a set of bulky gauntlets, vambraces, and pauldrons that completely cover Shira's arms and shoulders. While they serve the mundane function of acting as armor their true purpose is to focus her powers into more concentrated and devastating blasts. By releasing smaller and more controlled reactions these armguards also enable her to fly at impressive speeds.
Weaknesses
Aside from her mutant ability, Shira has all the same weaknesses and limitations of a normal human. Unlike many metahumans with similar powers, such as pyrokinetics, Shira has no special immunity or resistance to her own powers. It is likely that she might have killed herself by accident if not for the military's help. Thanks to her training and environment she has built up resistance to heat, but the risk of fire is always present.
History
Although much of Shira's service history is protected by the Israeli government, some details about her past have been uncovered. As a child she was kidnapped along with other youths by the shadow organization Black Sand and used as a test subject in their 'Hammer of God' project. Here she met the scientists Aaron Walker and Jarl Gillium, who were themselves being held against their will. The goal of Black Sand was to create a legion of super-soldiers capable of leveling cities with devastating firepower. Although the serum was successful, Israeli special forces uncovered and attacked Black Sand before their plans were completed. In the confusion of battle, Dr. Walker entrusted the young Shira to a wounded Israeli soldier. Fearing that the girl would be used as a weapon, he pleaded that she be given a normal life.
His wish was granted; Shira grew up in the countryside with her foster family, as far from war and strife as a child can be in the Middle-East. Despite her adoptive father's best intentions, however, she joined the military at age 18. Either through natural aptitude or some benefit of her mutation she thrived and took to military life like a fish to water. When her mandatory service was over she chose to stay, only leaving long enough to complete college.
(To be expanded!)
Shira currently resides in Millennium City where she has taken on a civilian identity. "Shira Howie" is a history and social studies teacher at Grace Memorial High. Though she has the money to support herself, she prefers to leave the savings untouched and instead gets by on her salary alone. The retired soldier is still settling in to her mundane life and hasn't decided what she aims to do in the long term.
One thing she has decided is that Millennium City was a poor choice for living a quiet life. The constant presence of villainy and crime makes her skin burn. Thus far she has chosen not to get involved. The power of the Howitzer is not a precision tool. There is no warning shot. If she decided to intervene, someone would be hurt or killed.