Melissa Flynn
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Melissa Flynn is a telepath working for Section 42, the CIA's extranormal branch, as a paranormal investigator. She is part of Section 42's Extranormal Task Force, also colloquialized as the "Freak Squad" by some. Though she is sometimes useful in a fight, she plays a more important role as a means of supporting other allied combatants, hindering or stunning enemies, and most of all information-gathering through the use of her mind-reading.
Contents
Background
Records indicate that Melissa was born to John and Jane Flynn in 1987, and moved to the United States three years ago after being offered employment by Section 42. Her parents were killed in a car accident, but she appears to have long since gotten over it. Though she has never attended any formal educational institution beyond high school, she consistently exhibits a comprehensive knowledge of science and technology, being very good with creating devices that prove useful in her line of work.
Originally stationed at an undisclosed location in the town of Willowside, Wyoming, she was eventually moved to Millenium City, most likely due to her nature as a psionic. Though she is less than talkative, Melissa has made many friends and aquaintances since her arrival. She is most often found in Club Caprice, though she seldom drinks any alcohol; the mind-altering substance tends to play havoc with her own mental powers.
The source of Ms. Flynn's abilities as a telepath and empath are uncertain. The powers themselves stem from a superhuman level of control over her own bioelectrical energies, which allows her to tap into the central nervous systems of other creatures and both receive and transmit psychic energy between them. X-rays taken of her brain show additional structures and organs that possibly play a role in her telepathy, so it is most likely that she is some sort of mutant or genetic offshoot.
She has recently been the target of several organized attacks by a space-faring alien race known as the Chitauri. Our data on these beings is scarce, but they appear to be reptilian or draconic in nature, and possessed of a great deal of advanced technology. Their reasons for assaulting Ms. Flynn are as of yet unknown, but they appear to have some inexplicable vendetta against her. Melissa grew evasive and offered no comment when asked about the incidents.
At some point in the last few months, a person calling herself Mara has claimed relation to Melissa. She is rumored to be Melissa's daughter, but this is impossible as she is only three years younger. It is assumed she is a distant cousin or marital relative.
Powers/Abilities
Below is a list of Melissa's known and presumed powers, both mental and physical:
Telepathy - Confirmed: First and foremost is Melissa's ability to interface with organic minds. She can sense surface thoughts at a distance, or even old memories when in physical contact. She can also direct her psychic energy into offensive uses, causing an overload of activity inside the brain which often leads to a temporary stunned state, unconsciousness. Melissa could theoretically cause permanent brain damage or even death, but this would require a great expenditure of personal willpower as well as being morally troubling to her (see below). She may also telepathically stimulate the cells in one's body to repair themselves or filter out toxins, allowing for increased healing.
Projection - Confirmed: Another use of her telepathy is to mentally project her own desired image of herself into the minds of those around her. While this could potentially be used as a sort of glamour or means of hiding her true identity, this is most often applied to appear invisible to others, making her valuable in stealth missions.
Empathy - Confirmed: This power manifests in three main ways. The first is that Melissa will be able to feel strong emotions and sensations from others, which can cause her to become uneasy in a dangerous situation. Secondly, she will occasionally start to adopt the traits, emotions and mannerisms of those she spends the most time around; this is subconscious and almost always happens without her noticing it. Thirdly, she can also use her empathy offensively by transmitting negative emotions to her enemies, reducing their will to fight, their ability to fight effectively, and their ability to concentrate. In a combat situation, she seems to instinctively suppress her own empathy, allowing her to attack her enemies without actually feeling their pain.
Telekinesis - Unconfirmed: While she has explicitly stated that she does not, in fact, possess telekinetic capability, there have been several reports of objects toppling over behind her for no apparent reason, or cloth surfaces being torn into even from a small touch.
Weaknesses
The following is a list of Melissa Flynn's known weaknesses:
Stress: Being able to sense the stress levels of those around her, Melissa will be vulnerable in any situation in which there is an overwhelming negative emotion. Certain malevolent spirits or undead cause her to flee or break down because of their rampant emotional instability, though depending on the type of undead or other enemy, she may be unaffected.
Cold: Melissa has repeatedly expressed that she hates cold weather. Presumably this is because of her upbringing in a much warmer climate, and her lack of footwear (see below).
Photography: As seen in the picture above, Melissa's psychic presence causes any video or photo taken of her to appear distorted or glitchy. The precise effect varies between cameras, and is often much more severe than seen above, to the point of being impossible to even remotely make out an image. Though this is not strictly a "weakness", it can become somewhat inconvenient.
Physical Combat: One of the main reasons that Melissa is seldom engaged in direct physical confrontations or combat missions is that she is no more capable than an average civilian; she is of average strength for her BMI and gender, not particularly damage-resistant aside from her energy shield, and has very limited expertise with most weaponry. On one instance, when offered a pistol, she looked at it oddly for a few moments before forgetting to remove the safety. Once she finally managed to get the weapon to fire, she missed nearly every shot and held the firearm at an awkward angle.
Suggestible: From a psychic perspective, Melissa's defenses are formidable. However, she does not always have these defenses active, and so one may be able to temporarily control her mind if one is fast enough. Additionally, her empathy causes her to be very non-confrontational and vulnerable to persuasion.
Personality
Best described as an introvert, Melissa is very shy and has a way of seeming small despite her above-average height. She is quiet, but well-spoken, and her untalkative nature is due to her preference for telepathic communication; vocal language does not convey the right meaning for her, and she sometimes stutters or pauses to find the right words. She is also characteristically bright, thoughtful, and very caring of those she knows well, even if it is often hard to tell.
Melissa is also highly eccentric. As an obvious example, she never seems to wear footwear of any kind. When asked why she lacks shoes or socks, she often replies, "I just don't." In a cryptic sort of way. Additionally, she is very obviously a foreigner, often failing to understand jokes or local idioms, and taking the words of others too literally.
Reports
There have been many rumours that Melissa is in some way inhuman, or perhaps even an extraterrestrial. It should be noted that any allegations of Ms. Flynn being a psychic reptilian humanoid from the Alpha Draconis Star System intending to infiltrate human society is entirely unfounded and nonsensical. Neither Section 42 nor the Central Intelligence Agency have ever recruited or had affiliation with any Reptoids, shadow people, illuminati, Zeta Reticulans, extradimensional time-travellers, or elder gods that we are aware of.
Allies
Despite her introverted nature and sub-par social skills, Melissa is surprisingly well-liked in Club Caprice. Some of her acquaintances include Tenebra, Seraph Y., La Mariposa, Grugar, Stephan Pagodis, and Serah Ah'Finahti.
Enemies
To date, perhaps the only continually hostile being is one of the leaders of the Chitauri insurgency on Earth; the Cyber-Shaman K'tasht. K'tasht seems to want to study Melissa's physiology, perhaps due to her natural psychic powers. It is likely that if K'tasht ever comes to see just how many other natural telepaths exist on Earth, he would turn his attention to them as well.
Outsider Comments
This section is reserved for those who wish to add short opinionated quotes about Melissa Flynn. Feel free to add to this area at your leisure.
"Melissa? Oh, she's the sweetest thing. A lot of fun. Why call her 'Melon'? Nicely rounded and curved, and filled with juice and seeds. That's why, not because it's a cute nickname." He chuckled.
