Selena Summers
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Selena Summers is a 'Superhero' affiliated with UNTIL's division of superpowered agents (UNITY).
Contents
Origin
Birth
Selena Summers (born:Zareena Lipkova) was the elder daughter of Russian superhero Nicolai Lipkova, better known in the west under his alias; "Airquake".
After the Cold War, the US-sympathetic Lipkova - with the aid of PRIMUS - relocated to the states, with his wife and their two daughters. He then retired from all superhero activities.
Unfortunately, their new home was Detroit.
The Day of Destroyer
July 23rd, 1992 10:24am
In an attempt to capitalize on Doctor Destroyer's assault, the occult activist group called DEMON had called upon several demonic beings to wreak havoc, one of which was a demonic entity named Kyrriggan.
However, things had turned sour. Destroyer's forces were beaten and only scattered pockets of resistance remained. At this point, the heroes had beaten several formidable foes. Foes far stronger than Kyrriggan - a fact that she was all too aware of.
Kyrriggan had a plan though, but she would have to act fast. She had returned to the hideout where DEMON had first summoned her, and there she put DEMON's own mystical devices to use and began working on an enchantment that would ensure her survival.
Then came the blast that obliterated most of the city.
Like most of Detroit, the Lipkovas' apartment was destroyed in the blast. There was only one survivor; his oldest daughter. She had not only walked away from the blast, but seemingly so without a scratch.
At first, it was believed that Selena might have inherited her father's abilities and used that to shield herself. The 8-year old was then sent to be raised with a foster family. She would remain in their care, under constant supervision and guidance by UNTIL, who had finally been given clearence to operate in the US.
However, it quickly became clear that Selena's abilities were nothing like Nicolai's at all.
Following this discovery, and with little faith in the chance that two direct family members both "just happened" to be born with completely unrelated powers, her foster-father decided to do his own research, as the chance of such a co-incident was just far too small.
Selena's foster-father, Henry Summers, was a university professor of theology. and as such, he was quite educated in the occult. Following a joint effort between himself and UNITY's Doctor Black, he eventually found the clue he was looking for. He followed the trail until he made a shocking discovery that he reported directly to UNTIL. They reopened the file and conducted a thorough investigation of DEMON's old hideout, in the ruins of Detroit.
Spoiler Warning
The following details are about a player-created storyline, or is information currently unrevealed about a character.
Please do not use this information ICly unless given permission to do so.
In those final moments before the blast hit detroit, Kyrriggan had attempted to perform a ritual that would grant her immortality in the earthly realm. However, pressed for time and in a rather urgent predicament, she had been unable to accomplish this before the blast, and the ritual was flawed in it's execution.
As a result, Kyrriggan's spirit had survived but her body was not so lucky.
She needed a body fast, or her 'out of body'-experience could quickly become permanent. The problem was, of course, that after the blast there were almost no one left in the area. With precious little choice, Kyrriggan decided to bond herself to the only living person she could sense; a heavily wounded and all-but-dead 8-year old girl.
As their souls melted together, her new body gained the belated effects from Kyrriggan's spell, and the child's wounds healed almost instantly.
However, although it first seemed as if the demon had been successful, the truth was not quite so. The child was much too old for such a "transference of souls", so, instead of preserving herself inside the new body, Kyrriggan's own soul was equally subdued as the two spirits merged into one.
In effect; she had destroyed both her own spirit as well as the child's, and the soul inside the child's body was now something of it's own - a combination of them both, but more than the sum of it's parts, so to speak.
Selena is currently active as an on-call UNITY agent.
Powers and Abilities
Basic Training
Once the origin of her powers had been discovered, UNTIL prepared an extensive training program for Selena, so that she could learn how she could control her abilities.
She is a trained Arms-engineer, and studies her skills within that field almost as much as she practices her arcane incantations. Also, as all UNTIL-field personel, Selena has had basic combat training and is proficient with both common sidearms and small rifles, however... she only ever carries a non-lethal version of a Kinetic Vibroblaster that replaces the ordinary projectile with soft rubber pellets.
However, given the extreme energy consumption and the significant powercell recharge time on that particular rifle, paired with her refusal to employ deadly force, it's fortunate that she has other... alternative attack methods.
Super Powers
Her main offense consists of short blasts of paranormal energies. With some effort, she can also create bigger blasts, although with somewhat reduced accuracy. As an homage to her late father, she has also fashioned some of her spells to resemble his traditional kinetic forcefields, although Selena's "force" blasts use none of the same energies and are actually much more powerful than Nicolai's forcefields ever were.
She is capable of flight, although this seems to wear her out quite fast. Curiously, she finds it less tiresome to "phase shift" - or become intangible, and *then* fly. This is probably due to the obviously lessened strain of gravity on her mass.
Most noteable of all her powers is probably what can best be described as near-immortality. Her body has an extremely increased resistance to harm - although she is _not_ invincible - and she can be knocked out if she sustains enough physical trauma.
However, in the case of injury, she can quickly rejuvenate herself using her arcane powers. In fact, she has proven herself to be so adapt at this that few injuries have prolonged effects on her, regardless of their initial severity.
Usually she she does this by will, but should she be rendered unconcious, this recovery effect actually becomes severly increased, and seems to work on it's own. This is what enables Selena to take devastating attacks and still get up and walk away, only moments later - just like she did all those years ago. This power is, however, very much arcane in nature, and should not be confused with the physical regeneration (or healing factor) found in certain other known supers.
The excact limits of this power is currently unknown, as there is no way to properly test it without risking her life in the process. Suffice to say; she has endured and survived injuries that would have killed any normal human being, as well as most superhumans or otherwise empowered beings.
Known Weaknesses
Selena has repeadetly exhibited a tendency to hesitate when making urgent decicions, as well as a general fear of violent confrontation. She can fight viciously , but will avoid it to the best of her ability - if not for her own sake, but because she does not wish to harm others. In combination, these characteristics may significantly hamper her performance in an open assault.
Also, and much more importantly, as a probable side effect from her spiritual 'fusion' with Kyrriggan, she suffers from what can best be compared to a multiple personality disorder; though obviously with it's own signature symptoms, as well.
Further research in this area is required, and Selena is to remain under UNTIL supervision while it is being conducted, but due to the rarity of these episodes, and her general performance otherwise, she will not be incarcerated for the time being.
Aliases
Selena's identity is not secret, and the common public are aware of who she is. Despite this fact, she will some times assume a costume typical to traditional superheroes, complete with a mask and spandex bodysuit.
She claims that this is because it helps seperate her from the public eye, as it gives the press a different 'persona' to focus on, while still allowing her some privacy when off duty. UNTIL psychologists, however, believe that the reason may be much simpler, and that she just wants to 'fit in' with other superheroes who wear extravagant costumes for other, more obvious reasons.
- User:Wickedsquirrel
