| Tezla
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| Player: @Arachnid95
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| [[Image:|300px|]]
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| Biographical Data
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| Real Name:
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Taranee Jones
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| Known Aliases:
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Tezla, Tez
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| Gender:
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Cis-Female
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| Species:
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Enhanced Human
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| Ethnicity:
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African-American
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| Place of Birth:
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Vibora Bay, FL, USA
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| Base of Operations:
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Millennium City
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| Relatives:
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Confidential
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| Characteristics
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| Age:
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26
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| Height:
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5' 8"
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| Weight:
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134 lbs.
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| Eyes:
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Blue
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| Hair:
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Dark Brown
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| Complexion:
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Dark
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| Physical Build:
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Slim
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| Physical Features:
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Star Tattoos On Arms/Chest, Knife Scar on Left Shoulder
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| Status
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| Fame:
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| ██
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██
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██
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██
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██
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██
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██
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██
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██
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National
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| Alignment:
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| LG
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LN
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LE
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| NG
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TN
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NE
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| CG
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CN
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CE
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| Identity:
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Secret
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| Years Active:
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3
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| Citizenship:
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Millennium City, US, Earth
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| Occupation:
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Superhero, Mechanic
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| Education:
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High School
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| Marital Status:
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Single
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| Known Powers and Abilities
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- Electrokinesis
- Electric Teleportation
- Electromagnetic Levitation
- Enhanced Strength
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| Equipment and Paraphernalia
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- Skintight Suit
- Goggles
- Hoverbike
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| Physical Attributes
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Strength
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Weapon
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Durability
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Armor
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Speed
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Reflexes
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Resistance
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Stamina
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Dexterity
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Agility
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Combat
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Regen
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| Non-Physical Attributes
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Energy
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Psionics
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Telepathy
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Willpower
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Sorcery
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Tech.
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Intel.
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Knowledge
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Charisma
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Bravery
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| MaekadaBoxSlim created by @Maekada
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Background and Origin
Early Life
Taranee Jones was born on May 11, 1976 in Vibora Bay, Florida, to parents Maia and Vincent Jones.
Her father was an engineering professor at the local university, and often assisted experiments in the campus lab. He also, however, was frequently away on sabbatical. Taranee spent most of her time with her stay-at-home mother.
Taranee's early childhood was quite uneventful, until the age of eleven, when tragedy struck, and her world was turned upside down.
Taranee's parents were tragically killed one night in a car accident, leaving Taranee alone. Per her father's will, she was left in the care of his colleague and good friend, Professor Jackson Wise. Though shaken and grief-striken by her parents' untimely death, she attained a sense of normalcy with her surrogate father, who did his best to raise and teach the young girl.
At age sixteen, in the midst of spring cleaning, Taranee discovered a misplaced letter to her father among a few of his old belongings. It's contents were quite shocking: its message was threatening, mentioned debts owed by Professor Jones, and was signed by a Dr. Phillip Adder. Most concerning was the stamp--the insignia of VIPER.
She brought the letter to Wise, who, after a failed attempt at deflecting, was finally forced to tell his young ward the truth.
Taranee's father, as it turned out, secretly worked for VIPER. The time he spent away on "sabbatical" was in fact time spent working on projects for the nefarious organization. The pay was plentiful enough that his wife and child were well cared for, but it cost him his moral integrity. Eventually, feeling guilty, and wanting to distance himself from the organization for the sake of his family, he tried to back out, and that's when he received that threatening letter. Mere days later, he and his wife were dead--an apparent accident, in reality an assassination, engineered by VIPER to punish him for trying to leave.
Wise explained that he, too, had had history with VIPER, but that he had successfully left many years ago. He had been attempting to help Taranee's father leave, as well, when they were killed, and had been protecting the girl from further retaliation.
Shocked and appalled by the knowledge of bother her father's and surrogate father's dealings with such a criminal enterprise, Taranee ran away that night, packing a bag and leaving under cover of darkness. By the time Wise knew she was missing, the girl was long gone. Without any means of support, however, Taranee quickly had to resort to desperate measures for survival. Though she balked at her father's sordid past, and the evil dealings of VIPER, she felt justified in turning to petty crime here and there to stay afloat.
Criminal Career
What at first was a matter of survival quickly turned into something more. Taranee's crimes began small--shoplifting, picking pockets, dine-and-dashing. But she wasn't always successful at evading consequences, and spent many a night in jail.
It was during one of these stints that she first met Daniela Rivera, another youth like herself who was driven to crime as a means of living. Daniela, however, had bigger ambitions, and had more serious crimes in mind. When the two were released, they forged a partnership, and began a year-long spree of crime.
They started with burglary and auto theft, then escalated further, committing several counts of armed robbery. At the height of their careers, they were pulling off full-on heists together, and became so skilled as to evade capture for months.
During this time, their partnership grew as well, from professional to romantic. The two of them were madly in love, a Bonnie and... Bonnie... for a new era. Together, they were unstoppable. Blinded by love, and addicted to the thrill of the criminal lifestyle, Taranee didn't even consider, at least consciously, that she was following down the same path as her father, in falling into criminal enterprise.
There were, of course, certain points on which they disagreed, such as the use of violence: though always armed, just in case, Taranee never once harmed anyone over the course of their crime spree, while Daniela had fewer compunctions, and took no issue in hurting those who got in their way. Fortunately, Taranee was the brains of the operation, and carefully planned their heists such that violence was never necessary.
Sadly, no plan is perfect, and one fateful night, Taranee's plans went astray in a way that would alter the course of both young women's lives forever.
The Vibora University Incident
On August 3, 1985, Taranee and Daniela planned a rather unusual heist. Rather than stealing money or valuables, they were hired by a mysterious client (their identity yet to be confirmed), who tasked them with the theft of a prototype device from Vibora University--an experimental negative ion generator. This generator was very powerful, fueled by a tiny amount of radioactive material and capable of putting out millions of watts of power. And for reasons the client was disinclined to disclose to Taranee and Daniela, they wanted it stolen.
Taranee was, understandably, uncomfortable with the idea of carrying out a heist so close to her home, and at a location so steeped in history for her. But the money was too good; with the amount they were being paid for this job, they'd be set for life. Daniela even implied the idea that the two of them could settle down, and retire from their life of crime together.
Thus convinced, Taranee finally agreed, and the two of them drew up the plans. The university laboratory was no easy mark; with multiple layers of security systems, breaking into the lab would prove to be a difficult task.
Taranee was no slouch when it came to planning, however. She managed to hack her way through the security systems, allowing the pair to slip inside undetected. Soon, they were securely in the school's lab, and were well on their way to another successful heist. Unfortunately, however, in all their planning, there was something she'd failed to plan for.
Unbeknownst to Taranee, the generator they were there to steal was the project of someone rather familiar to her--Professor Wise. This she discovered only when he walked into the lab, just in time to see his adoptive daughter and her partner in crime preparing to steal his work.
Daniela leveled her weapon at him, but Taranee cried out, urging her not to shoot. Daniela argued that, as witness to their crime, he had to be eliminated, otherwise the whole job was SNAFUed.
A tense moment passed, Wise standing with his hands in the air, Daniela's gun pointed at his chest. Taranee, making a split-second decision, made a grab for her girlfriend's gun just as she pulled the trigger. The pistol fired, missing Professor Wise completely. The bullet instead ricocheted off a nearby metal cabinet, and flew back towards the duo, hitting the ion generator.
The bullet penetrated the protective shielding of the generator, and arcs of uncontrolled electricity began to spark from within. One of these jolts struck Wise in the chest, stunning him.
With the generator now damaged, and likely to blow at any minute, Daniela called out for Taranee to run, and made a dash for the door herself. But Taranee couldn't bring herself to leave the weakened Wise there to die. She lifted his limp body and began to carry him to safety, but she was unable to make it out of the lab before the generator exploded.
The electromagnetic blast hit Taranee directly as she shielded Wise with her body, and knocked them both unconscious. The shockwave decimated the building, reducing it to rubble.
Daniela, who had gotten clear of the building, ran to dig Taranee out of the remains of the building, and was able to carry her to safety before emergency crews came to investigate. Taranee remained unconscious for several days following the incident, during which Daniela kept the pair of them hidden in their hideout.
Confession and Arrest
Taranee awoke a few days after the incident, Daniela hovering at her bedside. She was badly bruised, and had suffered a minor wrist fracture, but otherwise was unharmed. She did notice, however, an odd buzzing noise that seemed to come from within her head, and felt oddly... energized.
Daniela explained that while she was out, Taranee had been... sparking. Blue shocks of electricity would arc from her skin on occasion, and Daniela had to be careful when touching her or risk getting a shock. Taranee seemed slightly concerned about this, but Daniela was more intrigued.
She'd heard of people gaining superpowers before, in similar incidents, and the idea that Taranee might have developed some of her own spelled good things for their growing criminal enterprise. Sure, they'd blown the University job (thanks to Taranee's interference, Daniela was sure to point out), but with an electrokinetic on their side, they could more than make up for their failure, as no one could possibly stand against them!
Taranee, however, wasn't concerned with that at the moment. She had to know if Professor Wise was alright. Daniela was reluctant to say anything, and deflected her girlfriend's inquiries at first, but Taranee wasn't to be dissuaded. Finally, Daniela relented, and told her what she'd heard on the news.
Firstly, it seemed that they'd gotten away scot free; the authorities had no idea there was anybody at fault for the destruction of the Vibora University science building. They chalked it up to an accident--one of the experiments misfiring. The only casualty... Professor Wise.
He was still alive, fortunately, but in very bad shape. The explosion had rendered the man comatose, and if he were to awaken, it was unlikely that he would ever be able to walk unaided again, thanks to spinal damage suffered in the building's collapse.
Daniela framed this as a good thing. Wise was, after all, the only witness to their crime, and he'd likely never be able to tell anyone. But Taranee was wracked with guilt. This was her fault. The person she loved most in the world was nearly dead, and it was because she'd gone astray, and turned to a life of crime. Even as Daniela carried on, making plans to discover the extent of Taranee's power and best use it for their exploits, Taranee knew what she had to do.
She admitted to Daniela that she didn't want to do this anymore, and that the right thing to do would be to turn themselves in. Daniela, obviously, disagreed. This disagreement led to a heated argument, which then escalated into a physical altercation when Daniela attacked Taranee with a knife, stabbing her in the shoulder. The electrical current now running through Taranee's body flowed into the knife, electrocuting Daniela and sending her shooting across the room, where she fell unconsious.
Heartbroken and hurt, Taranee did what she felt was right. She placed a call to the Vibora Bay Police Department, and within minutes, officers were raiding their hideout. Both women were placed under arrest, with Daniela struggling and cursing Taranee the entire time.
Once in custody, Taranee confessed to everything, from their meeting to the university incident. She would later testify to the entire affair in court. Daniela Rivera was sentenced to a total of thirty-seven years in prison, while Taranee received a lighter sentence of 15 years, for her cooperation.
Taranee still didn't feel great, of course. She felt guilty for Dr. Wise's condition, was heartbroken at the end of her relationship with Daniela, and now she was alone in the world, and about to spend a long, long time in prison.
Being as she had become superhuman, she was immediately sent to Stronghold Prison in the Southwest Desert, while Daniela was sent to Florida State Prison. But as fate would have it, neither woman would serve out their full sentences. Two years into her sentence, Taranee was visited by a man claiming to be an agent from UNTIL, with a rather intriguing offer.
Redemption and Heroic Beginnings
The UNTIL agent identified himself as Director Jason Graham, head of a very special program within UNTIL. He explained to Taranee that his program, called Project Angel, sought out superpowered individuals with criminal records, and offered them a chance at redemption as heroes.
Given the emergence of her powers, and the cooperative circumstances surrounding her case, Taranee was an ideal candidate for the program. If she agreed, UNTIL would train her in the use of her powers, assign her to a task force, and employ her as an agent in the field for a period of time. In return, UNTIL would take care of her criminal record, and guaranteed her amnesty for her actions. It would be a chance to start anew, and all she had to do was say yes.
Taranee felt she had a responsibility to atone for her crimes, and had been fully prepared to sit out her sentence in Stronghold. But she realized that perhaps using her new powers to help others might be a better way to pay back her debt. She agreed, and within the week, she had been released from Stronghold into the care of UNTIL.
At a top-secret UNTIL facility in Kansas, Taranee was taught to control her powers. She learned quickly; after a few weeks, she was able to release electric current from her fingers with ease. Within two months, she had learned to focus her power into arcing bolts. At six months, she discovered she could levitate and move at speed by interacting with the earth's electromagnetic field, and at the end of her first year, she had learned to transform her entire body into electricity, allowing her to teleport short distances.
By this point, feeling that she had mastered her abilities sufficiently, Project Angel deemed her ready for the field. She was assigned to a special team called Division Seven, consisting of other superpowered ex-criminals under the supervision of UNTIL soldiers and overseen by Director Graham himself. It was at this point that she was also assigned a codename: Agent Tesla, named for her electrical prowess. She wasn't fond of it.
For two years, Division Seven was sent across the globe to handle various threats. As Agent Tesla, Taranee was instrumental in several strikes against VIPER, the prevention of a Qliphothic incursion in Southeast Asia, the apprehension of a would-be despotic ruler in Bolivia, and the evacuation of New Orleans prior to its destruction at the hands of a supervillain-generated hurricane.
Through it all, Taranee was noted by Project Angel as being compassionate, efficient, and eager to help others. At the end of two years, most of Division Seven was deemed ready for graduation, and its members were recalled to Project Angel headquarters, commended for their service and their efforts at rehabilitation, and at last released to enjoy their newfound freedom.
Taranee, though, wasn't ready to call it quits. She'd learned to love the thrill of heroism as much as she'd loved the thrill of crime--even more so, in fact. And besides, she still felt the gnaw of guilt at the thought of what she'd done to Professor Wise, and even though UNTIL considered herself pardoned, she did not. She decided, shortly after leaving Project Angel, to devote her life to the benefit of others.
Taranee moved to Millennium City, feeling she would have the most opportunities there. She crafted a costume and persona for herself; the name "Tesla" had grown on her a bit, but she still wanted to put her own flavor on it. Thus, she made her debut as the new superhero Tezla, and has since been administering her own electrifying brand of justice in Millennium City, hoping that one day, she would be able to forgive herself for her sins--and that the Professor would one day be able to forgive her, too.
Powers and Skills
Powers
Electrokinesis - Tezla's main power, and the one for which she is named. She possesses the ability to generate vast amounts of electrical energy, and project it from her body to varying degrees and effects. Ordinarily, she will generate up to a certain amount of power passively, and quickly regenerate that power once it is spent. She can, however, also absorb electricity from nearby sources if she so chooses. She has to be careful, however, as overcharging herself too much causes her significant discomfort, and could potentially kill her, if she takes in too much.
Her energy levels are reflected in her personality and mannerisms; when running on full, she is as energetic emotionally as she is literally, full of attitude and moxie. When she's running low, she becomes more lethargic and tired, and when completely out of charge, will pass out from exhaustion.
Over the years, Tezla has achieved a great amount of control over her electrical discharge. In a quick scuffle, she may simply let her power flow freely from her fingers, arcing to nearby targets of its own volition. She can also, however, focus her attacks, pumping a single target full of volts in a highly-damaging electrical arc. Among her most devastating attacks is her ability to rally a huge chunk of her energy, focus it at her hands, and release it as a tremendous bolt of lightning. It often leaves her winded for a moment, but it's an effective way to clear a room! Also in her repertoire are the ability to form spheres of hovering electricity that linger in the air; the formation of an electromagnetic shield, which can deflect most projectiles sent her way; and, as a last ditch effort, a blinding flash of energy that leaves her enemies stunned and unable to focus on her.
Teleportation - Among her most dramatic abilities, Tezla has the ability to, for a short time, transform her entire body into electrical energy, and "teleport" short distances by arcing from one point to another. This requires significant concentration on her part, but over time she's mastered it.
She can only arc to points within her line of sight, and has a more difficult time maintaining accuracy the further away she attempts to arc. The furthest she's ever arced is two hundred feet, and that was mostly by accident.
When she arcs, a short-ranged but powerful electromagnetic pulse is emitted at both the point of dematerialization and the point of rematerialization. Any electronic equipment near either point is subject to interference, and may short out. Furthermore, any electronics she passes near or through as she arcs may suffer similar effects. Any technology on her person has to be specially designed with insulated components to avoid being fried by her arcing.
Electromagnetic Levitation - By producing an electromagnetic field around her body, Tezla is able to interact with that of the Earth in such a way as to allow her to levitate off the ground. With practice, she has been able to manipulate this field to allow her to move at speeds up to sixty miles per hour, hovering mere inches above the ground.
Enhanced Strength - Although particularly potent among her abilities, Tezla does possess a degree of super strength proportional to the amount of charge she has built up. At full charge, she is strong enough to lift a car over her head with some effort.
The precise mechanisms behind this strength are unknown; she does not possess either the physicality or the durability characteristic of other strength-enhanced superhumans. One theory is that it is a subconscious manipulation of the electromagnetic field, allowing her to move massive objects with greater ease than with muscle power alone.
Skills
Mechanical Knowledge - Thanks in part to her father's line of work in engineering, Taranee from a young age possessed a fascination with machinery. During her partnership with Daniela Rivera, this was channeled into mechanical expertise, fixing up and modifying getaway vehicles. Tezla knows her way around a car, and especially loves working with motorcycles.
Expert Driver - Picked up during her criminal career. Tezla knows how to operate a wide variety of vehicles from ATVs to sports cars, tanks to formula 1 racers... again, motorbikes are a favorite. She's even learned to pilot a helicopter, although that experience didn't go well and she'd rather not try that again.
Street Smarts - Having lived on the other side of the law, and having had to support herself on the streets, Taranee has the experience and knowledge necessary to operate in an urban environment. Although some other superheroes may outclass her in academic knowledge, few are as savvy as she is when dealing with street-level issues.
Creative Writing - Taranee is a rather skilled wordsmith, and writes poetry in her spare time. She's too self-conscious about it to share, though.
Rock Guitar - A hobby she picked up during her time with Project Angel. She's not a professional, but she can play fairly decently.
Gear and Equipment
Costume - Tezla's suit is designed to afford her the greatest amount of control possible over her electrical discharge. The main body is insulated, so as to prevent unintended arcing from her skin. The bracers and boots are more conductive, as she discharges most of her power through her hands and feet (when levitating, specifically). She can, of course, force electricity through the suit with little effort if needed.
Goggles - Her goggles' purpose is twofold: to afford her a degree of identity protection, as with a mask, and to shield her eyes from the bright glare of her power. Without them, the constant blue light emitted from her electric discharge tends to exhaust her eyes.
Communicator - Used to keep in touch with other heroes as needed. Hers is specially designed with insulated components, to prevent it from being destroyed when she arcs.
Hoverbike - A vehicle of her own invention, Tezla uses this for quick transport, lengthy chases, and joy rides. It is, of course, electric, and is in fact designed to run off of her own charge. It uses the same principle of electromagnetic levitation that she is capable of using herself, but is much faster, at the cost of being slightly more draining.
Relationships
Lovers
Prophetess - Tezla had a brief fling with an earth-bending heroine from the future known as Prophetess. Though the two were very fond of one another, they had to part ways both professionally and romantically, as Prophetess lef tto pursue different goals. They parted on good terms, with no apparent bad blood between them.
Iris - Recently, Tezla has begun working in a team of superheroines known as the Amazons, and is romantically involved with one of them, a mentalist named Iris. Details of their relationship are not widely known, but the two have confirmed that they're dating, and aren't shy about showing their affection towards one another.
Friends/Allies
Division Seven - Tezla bonded well with the other ex-cons of Division Seven. Sadly, of the five original members, she remains friends with only two: Richard Teak, codenamed Agent Leo, a feline superhuman who now operates in Scotland, and Victoria Chen, codenamed Agent Armstrong, a super-strong brawler who retired from action following her graduation, and remains inactive to this day. One of the two remaining members, mentalist David Reed (aka Agent Whisper) is now deceased, having tragically taken his own life four months after graduation. The last member is now among Tezla's villains (see "Enemies" below).
UNTIL/UNITY - Even after her time with Division Seven and Project Angel, Tezla continues to offer her services to UNTIL as a member of UNITY, occasionally lending her abilities to missions for the organization. Chief among them is the retired Director Graham, with whom she remains a very close friend; the two meet up for drinks every now and again.
The Champions - Although not exactly "friendly" with the Champions, she counts them among her allies. She likes Ironclad, Witchcraft, and Kinetik well enough, and had a brief crush on Sapphire (nothing she was interested in pursuing, though). For reasons she can't quite put her finger on, Defender gives her weird vibes, and she definitely prefers to keep her relationship with him purely professional.
Black Mask - Though they've not worked together extensively, Tezla greatly admires Black Mask, and considers her to be a more than worthy defender of her beloved Vibora Bay. She is, however, reluctant to share details of her past with her, in particular the Vibora University incident.
Juryrig - Tezla is quite fond of Juryrig. They don't work together very often, but she loves chatting with him about their mutual interest in mechanics and science. The two often share tech tips with one another, and enjoy looking over each others' inventions (although she's not yet worked up the courage to let him take a peek inside her beloved hoverbike).
The Alpha Squadron - Though not an official member, Tezla occasionally works with a team of heroes known as the Alpha Squadron, and lists their members among her best friends. Included in this team are the mighty Shango, technological genius I-Man, and martial artist Black Lotus.
The Amazons - Tezla is among the members of a Millennium City-based superhero team called the Amazons, and she considers them to be her closest friends and allies. Also on the team are heroes Wildling, Iris, Shatter, and Mothgirl.
Enemies
Trauma Queen - Tezla's arch-nemesis, who is none other than her former lover and partner, Daniela Rivera. After her arrest, Daniela was able to escape prison and flee the state. With her criminal empire now nothing more than a pipe dream, and with no other prospects, she joined up with VIPER, hoping that they would be able to assist her with her criminal ambitions.
During her time with VIPER, she was commended by her superiors for being a particularly savage and bloodthirsty combatant. Seeing greater potential in her, her NEST leader recommended her for supersoldier experimentation. Daniela underwent a procedure that, through a combination of cybernetics and genetic mutation, gave her immense strength, durability, and ferocity, but did not diminish her intellect and cunning.
She continued to serve VIPER for a number of years as a living weapon, but after a while began to feel that she wouldn't be able to grow much more within their ranks.
Her first attempt at resignation was rebuffed, as VIPER were naturally uninclined to lose such a powerful asset.
Her second attempt was more successful; it is, after all, hard to say "no" when you've been beaten to a bloody stain on the ground amidst the smoldering ruins of what once was a VIPER base.
With all she'd learned from VIPER, Daniela set out to forge her own empire once again. At first hiring out her services as a mercenary, she quickly rose to the top of the global underworld food chain, her infamous sadism and brutality earning her the nickname Trauma Queen. Eventually, she had her own cadre of mercenaries under her employ, all answering to the might of Trauma Queen.
Then one day, word of a new, electrifying superheroine in Millennium City caught her ear. When she laid eyes on this "Tezla" in the news, she recognized her old flame immediately--and that flame ignited a fury in her beyond imagining. Gathering her men, she relocated to Millennium City, vowing revenge on the woman who betrayed her, and she won't rest until her ex-partner and ex-girlfriend is an ex-person...
Singe - Even before she got her powers, Rachel Calvin was a pyromaniac. She worked for a while as an enforcer for the New Purple Gang, using her beloved flame to burn buildings, evidence, and people who the gang needed gone. One fateful night saw her burning down a warehouse filled with chemical byproducts of drug manufacture. Her blaze ignited a particularly violent batch of fluid, and the resulting explosion sent her flying and set her alight with blue chemical flame.
The fire left her burned over ninety percent of her body, but it also catalyzed her powers. She gained an immunity to heat and fire, and the ability to conjure and control flame. The accident left her even more deranged, and as the villain Singe, she became one of the most feared and dangerous criminals in Millennium City. Even the New Purples didn't want anything to do with her anymore; they were too afraid of her.
Fortunately for them, they didn't have to figure out a way to fire her without being "fired" themselves. When Trauma Queen arrived in Millennium City, Singe was at her side immediately, attracted to her ferocity and wanting to be a part of her rampage. Now, she is Trauma Queen's right hand woman--and, some say, her new paramour.
Pierce - The final member of Division Seven, Benjamin Teller. Codenamed Agent Manticore at the time, his powers weren't nearly as flashy as the others' were, but were nonetheless highly useful. His senses were superhumanly acute, with his hearing and vision orders of magnitude more powerful than those of ordinary humans. He could see in the dark as clearly as in broad daylight, read text on a page up to three thousand feet away, and hear both ultra-high and -low frequency sounds, usually only audible to animals.
Where he really shined as an asset was what he did with those senses. He was a highly skilled tracker, impossible to sneak up on, and had taught himself to wield a bow and arrow with deadly accuracy.
The problem was that, to him, humand made the perfect quarry. He viewed other people as something to hunt, and felt no remorse about taking human lives. He felt that anyone who was "weak" enough to fall to him deserved to die by his hand. It was, in fact, for a string of murders that he was originally imprisoned.
Although he never directly threatened his teammates, his persona was nevertheless unsettling to the rest of Division Seven. Taranee expressed concerns that he was unhinged, and too dangerous for the field.
Ultimately, she was right; during a mission in West Africa, while Teller was supposed to be doing reconnaissance, two young children were found with their throats slit, their mother pinned to the wall of their hut by an arrow through each eye. Teller swore up and down that it wasn't his doing, but Taranee herself testified during the resultant inquiry that she was one hundred percent certain that it was Teller's handiwork. Project Angel agreed; the bodies matched his previous MO. Teller was failed out of the program, and sent back to Stronghold to serve the rest of his life sentence.
During transport, however, the tracker was able to slip his restraints and overpower the guards and driver. He escaped into the Southwest Desert, eager for more prey to hunt.
When Taranee later made her appearance as Tezla, he saw a chance to right what he felt was a wrong against him, blaming her for his being washed out of the program. Amused by her colorful costume and new codename, he decided to follow suit: as the fatal assassin Pierce, he remains one of Tezla's most deadly foes.
VIPER - Naturally, VIPER is an enemy to all superheroes. But to Tezla, the animosity is personal--they were, after all, responsible for her parents' death. She is all too eager to fight them wherever they rear their serpentine heads.
In particular, she wants to find the Dr. Phillip Adder who had written to her father before his death. He has, as of yet, not been identified, and she longs to bring him to justice.
Electrocide - Tezla's Multifarian counterpart. In that world, she electrocuted her girlfriend and partner in crime after gaining her powers, so she could be the sole head of their growing crime syndicate.
She was forced to lay low once Citizen Harmon and the Conquerors took over, waiting for a chance to make her move... but her plans changed when Tezla came through and defeated him for her.
Immediately taken with the idea of fighting herself, she followed Tezla back to Millennium City, eager to murder her counterpart and take over our "softer" world instead.
Tezla finds it rather challenging to fight someone who has all her power, but none of her restraint. Electrocide is unhinged, manic, and sadistic, and loves using her powers to bring a painful end to whoever gets in her way--or who simply looks at her funny. Viewing her as a dark reminder of the kind of person she could have been, Tezla is understandably anxious to bring her villainous doppelganger to justice, but so far has proved quite elusive; she's not only as powerful as Tezla, but just as intelligent as well, and knows when to retreat to fight another day.
Steel Shark - Carl Carrius wasn't always a depraved, violent monster. He was an Australian Olympic swimmer, and a very good one... but he wasn't good enough. Two Olympic games in a row saw him bring home silver, never gold. Frustrated, Carrius turned to steroids in the hopes of finally winning that first gold medal, but he was very quickly caught and disqualified, banned from ever competing again. At home, his wife attempted to comfort him, but this was her fatal mistake; due to the increased aggression and delusions from the steroids, Carrius became convinced his wife was mocking him, and in a fit of rage, stabbed her to death with a kitchen knife.
Carrius went on a rampage and murdered six more people this way before he was caught. Because of the particularly gruesome nature of the murders, and the fact that he was so high profile, he was handed the first death sentence in Australia since 1984.
As he awaited his fate, alone in a cell, he was approached by a guard he'd not seen before. The guard asked what he'd be willing to do to be free, and Carrius replied, "anything." The guard nodded, and a moment later, the power went out across the prison, freeing hundreds of inmates. In the chaos of the ensuing riot, Carrius was bagged and whisked away in a black van.
When he arrived, he was addressed by a mysterious benefactor on a screen, who told him that he would be given not only his freedom, but power he couldn't even dream of. All he had to do was agree use his murderous talents to eliminate a certain target in America. Desperate and intrigued, Carrius agreed. Had he known what his liberator had in mind for him, he might have thought twice.
Carrius was made to undergo a rather grueling procedure. He was infused with a mixture of Draysha, combined with a cocktail of recombinant DNA that included Karkaradon and Lemurian genes. This transformed him, body and mind, into a brutal killing machine.
When it was over, he had rough, pale blue skin and black eyes. He was much stronger, more agile, and had greater stamina than he'd ever had in his life. He could swim ten times as fast as before, breathe underwater, and smell blood. He was, essentially, a human shark. The downside of this was that he was also brainwashed; memories of his past life were fuzzy, at best, and his mind was flooded with an overwhelming urge to rip and kill and taste blood.
Now a deadly living weapon, Carrius was outfitted with shiny steel body armor and weapons of his own choosing: twin retractable razor-sharp blades, embedded in each of his bracers. He was given the name Steel Shark, and told of the one he was made to kill: the American superhero, Tezla.
Carrius had never heard of her. He didn't know who it was who'd done this to him, or why they wanted him to kill this hero. He didn't much care. He had his orders. Consumed with bloodlust, Carrius swore that he would sip of Tezla's blood.
Since then, he has made numerous attempts on her life. He brutally attacks others to temporarily sate his thirst for violence, and to draw her out, and then when she shows up to stop him, he launches at her with unmatched brutality and savagery. Thus far, she has always been able to stop him, but she has no idea who would set such a violent monster on her, or why...
Count Magnus VanderGott - Originally from the Netherlands, the vampire Count Vandergott first came to what would become the U.S. in the late 1600s. Little is known of his life before he became a vampire, but he likely contracted the curse in the US as a young man.
VanderGott was ambitious, with designs on amassing a vampire army with which to dominate the continent. But at the time, it wasn't safe; the Salem Witch Trials were in full swing when he was beginning to make his plans, and any attempts at increasing his influence would have attracted much unwanted attention. Luckily, as an immortal creature of the night, VanderGott had plenty of time to wait.
Using his dark magicks, VanderGott divined the perfect place for a vampiric kingdom to flourish. He traveled down the coast to what would eventually be Florida--specifically, to the future site of Vibora Bay--and entombed himself, leaving instructions to his followers to awaken him when it was safe.
For hundreds of years he slumbered, dreaming of his kingdom of darkness. Unfortunately for him, he slept a bit too long...
His divinations had been correct, of course: Vibora Bay was, indeed, the perfect place for a cabal of vampires to take root and begin to grow. But alas, by the time he finally emerged from his tomb, another vampire had beaten him to the punch. Much to his chagrin, Vladic Dracul and his New Shadows had already established themselves, and they weren't going to let some upstart vampire cut into their territory.
Immensely annoyed, VanderGott was forced to rethink his plans. He was too late to stake a claim in Vibora Bay; even if there wasn't already a vampiric presence there, there was other competition in the form of the Dogz, Trey Kings and Sovereign Sons. VanderGott once again turned to his magicks, catching himself up on the world he now found himself in... and was very much intrigued.
The advent of superhumans interested him greatly: ordinary mortals with immense power, capable of performing feats beyond even his own formidable skills. And the highest concentration of the greatest of these superhumans seemed to be one Millennium City.
At first, one would think that VanderGott would want to steer clear of such powerful potential enemies... but VanderGott recognized that, unlike the supernatural competition he faced in Vibora Bay, these superhumans had the potential to be turned. He could make these powerful mortals into vampires, and they'd be his to command. Vampires that could shoot lightning from their hands, run faster than sound, bounce bullets off their chests... His would be the most powerful and deadly vampire army the world had ever seen, and with such forces, VanderGott would have enough strength to trample the New Shadows and dominate the world!
With his cult followers in tow, VanderGott left for Millennium City, there to begin his kingdom. In a nest deep beneath the city streets, he grew his following, feeding under the cover of night and turning more and more civilians into undead thralls.
When he felt he was strong enough to acquire his first superhuman, he chose his prey and struck. Unfortunately for him, that prey was Tezla--and she was no easy quarry. After soundly defeating the vampire in combat, he fled to his nest to lick his wounds. Now it was personal; he still seeks to grow his kingdom, but Tezla, in particular, had earned his eternal ire, and he will not rest until she has been destroyed.
Warden Stronghold - Although never actually the warden, Harriet Cho was once a guard who worked at Stronghold supervillain prison, and did so for twelve long years. During her tenure at Stronghold, she saw hundreds of superhumans who had used their powers to commit various atrocities, and it incensed her.
After a while, she became convinced that superhumans were inherently dangerous. Power corrupts, after all; as far as she was concerned, the mere presence of superpowers in an individual was a portent of an inevitable decline into villainy. It was only a matter of time before they realized how much more power they had than the average person, and how easy it would thus be to get away with whatever crimes they wanted.
As time went on, her disdain festered into hatred, paranoia and outright bigotry. She made no secret of her loathing for the superpowered inmates under her watch, and was reprimanded on multiple occasions for abusing them.
She became convinced of a grand conspiracy--a plan for all superhumans across the world to rise up and destroy "normal" people, and decided she had to be proactive about it. She demanded a meeting with the prison administration to petition for the immediate execution of all its superpowered inmates, and that of every new inmate going forward.
The administrators were, of course, horrified by her murderous intentions. They tried to reason with her, to point out that even hardened supercriminals had the potential for rehabilitation and redemption; chief among their examples were Project Angel and Tezla, who was now a respected member of the superheroic community.
If anything, this point only infuriated Cho further. She ranted that letting Tezla run around free after her life of crime was spitting in the face of justice, and that she would inevitably relapse and return to villainy.
Unsurprisingly, her vitriolic ideas were rejected. When she became even more enraged and frenzied, the administrators decided that she could no longer be trusted in her position, and so terminated her employment immediately.
Cho did, reluctantly, leave... but not before stealing one of the prison's SPARC power armors. She had a plan to take the war to the superhumans, whether she had the backing of the system or not.
She made some modifications to the armor, making it stronger, more powerful... and more deadly. Donning it, she dubbed herself Warden Stronghold, and began her crusade against the capes. She would exterminate every superpowered freak in the nation, all on her own if necessary--and she would start with the one she considered the most egregious miscarriage of justice: Tezla.
Mr. Boxx - When this bizarre personality first began appearing online, no one really considered him a threat.
Appearing on camera as a suited man with an old television for a head, the mysterious Mr. Boxx's real identity was unknown. Although eloquent and intelligent, the ideas he espoused were rather... dubious. He claimed all manner of wild conspiracy, and was a firm believer in a wide variety of racist, homophobic, and anti-cape theories.
At first, he was merely written off as another alt-right wingnut, and largely ignored by the authorities. But as he continued to gain popularity online, Tezla began to recognize how dangerous he was.
He was gaining a rather substantial cult following--"Boxxheads," they called themselves. Emboldened by his hateful rhetoric, they formed a sort of cult, and a rise in violent hate crimes and anti-cape sentiment began in Millennium City. These people were a loud minority, but with their charismatic leader spurring them on and encouraging the violence, they were an imposing threat.
Tezla made it a priority to end the cult of Mr. Boxx, and was finally able to track down the man himself, revealing him to be one Philo James Sorkin--the CEO of Sorkin's Arms and Security, a personal firearms and private defense company, who stood to gain from the violence by engineering an atmosphere of fear and turning people away from superheroes and to his company's products and services.
Although brought to justice, he didn't stay imprisoned long. His lawyers got him out of jail in a matter of months, and he was once again free to rouse rabble. Now with a grudge against Tezla, Mr. Boxx's crimes have since escalated, with the man himself appearing with throngs of brainless followers to sow discord and hatred. Tezla has always managed to end the violence, but never definitively; the TV-headed figures seen out and about usually turn out to be androids, likely controlled by Sorkin from afar. Dealing with Boxx and his little cult is tricky business for Tezla and other heroes; despite their violent nature, fighting them as she would any other villain would be a PR nightmare. Boxx still appears online to gripe about being "silenced" by Tezla, which only riles his followers further and ignites more hatred for her and other heroes. As a result, Mr. Boxx remains a proper thorn in her side, and one she truly detests having to deal with.
Madame Venina - Once a powerful but low-ranking member of the Sovereign Sons in Vibora Bay, Camille Dubois was at first content to serve under Baron Cimitiere--though she always harbored hidden ambitions to eventually rise through the ranks and supplant him as leader of the Sons.
That changed, however, when she one day laid eyes on the heroine known as Tezla when she came to bring the Baron to justice. To Tezla, she was just another of his minions, quickly subdued and overlooked, but to Camille, that day was life-changing. She was immediately struck by the heroine's beauty and grace, and became quite infatuated with her.
Following Cimitiere's defeat that day, he and all underlings present were taken into custody. During her incarceration, Camille continued to obsess over Tezla, unable to think of anything else. All her criminal ambitions within the Sons were cast aside; she had a new goal now. She would make that woman her own.
She spent her days practicing her magic, slowly growing more powerful. She communed with the loa and learned new mystical arts, gaining a power to rival even Cimitiere's. When she was ready, she used her new power to escape her imprisonment, and once free, she made her way to Millenium City with her own private army of the undead. She took on the name that would have been her nom de guerre had she carried on with her plans to take over the Sons--Madame Venina, the Serpent Queen--and began her crusade to win over the heroine's heart.
Time and again, she has professed her love for Tezla, but always finds her affections rebuffed. She's a determined woman, however, and insists that one day, she will take Tezla for her bride--and if she won't accept her love on her own, she'll bend to the power of her magic...
Captain Sigma - At first appearing on the scene as a new superhero, William White III, alias Captain Sigma, had nearly everyone fooled--even Tezla, at first. Handsome, charismatic, with the image of an incorruptible force for good, he quickly gained popularity among the citizens of Millennium City. Though he had no real powers of his own, he was possessed of a hi-tech suit that greatly enhanced his strength, durability, and speed. Combined with his mastery of martial arts, he was able to use the powers granted to him by his suit quite effectively, making him a force to be reckoned with.
Tezla admired his work at first; he seemed like a very promising hero, and she was eager to work with him. She got her chance when the two were partnered up while running a mission for UNITY.
At first excited to finally meet this dashing new hero and see him in action up close, Tezla quickly noticed something was off. His smile as he shook her hand seemed just slightly forced, and when he spoke to her, he kept his sentences short, almost to the point of brusqueness--though never less than friendly. Little things, but enough for her to realize that something was just a bit off about this man.
Her misgivings were only further confirmed as they embarked on their mission. Once they were alone, he became even less smiley and jovial, speaking only when it was necessary and shrugging off her attempts at conversation. He even got snappy at times, spouting off an uncomfortable number of thinly-veiled misogynistic remarks and off-color jokes about her sexuality. Tezla found herself liking him less and less as they continued their mission; it was becoming clear that his friendly, bright demeanor was a mere facade, and underneath was, at the very least, a jerk.
As it turned out, he was quite a bit worse than a mere jerk. A number of incidents throughout the span of their mission had her increasingly convinced that Captain Sigma was no hero at all. At one point, while staking out their target, an ARGENT facility in Canada, he excused himself for a moment, leaving Tezla to keep watch--and to fend off a sudden ambush by ARGENT soldiers a few minutes later. He only reappeared after she'd fought them off, and though he passed off his visible dismay as concern for her, she could see it was really frustration.
She kept her accusations to herself, however, waiting to see just how far he was going to go. When the time came for them to strike, they split up, Sigma offering to mount an assault through the front while Tezla stealthily infiltrated through the back. No sooner was she inside the building, however, than the trap was sprung; Tezla found herself surrounded by soldiers, with Captain Sigma among them, front and center.
He was, of course, not a superhero at all, but a mercenary working with ARGENT. The plan was for him to establish himself as a hero, gain the trust of UNTIL, and steal as much useful information on Millennium City's superheroes as he could, in exchange for, of course, a staggering amount of money. This mission was to be his chance to report back with his first set of findings, but being saddled with Tezla as a partner was a wrench in that plan. Now, of course, he was going to have to kill her, and spin some tragic story about how their mission went awry, and Tezla sacrificed herself to save him.
Naturally, Tezla wasn't about to go down without a fight; he was a challenging opponent, but Tezla proved to be more than a match for him. She was able to defeat his lackeys, short out his suit, and recover the data he'd stolen.
By the time he'd made it back to UNITY headquarters, desperate to salvage this SNAFU and save his cover, Tezla had already beaten him there with the truth. The drive he'd stolen was pretty damning evidence, and when confronted with it, his mask fell immediately. He was dragged away to Stronghold, cursing Tezla's name and spewing endless unrepeatable slurs her way, vowing to destroy her for ruining his plans. Of all her enemies, Tezla notes him as being one of the slimiest and most vitriolic, and is only too glad to send him back to prison whenever he rears his head.
Abby Zero - At first glance, one wouldn't assume Abigail Celsius had any reason to turn to villainy. Quite the opposite, in fact; her father, Adam Celsius, was a retired superhero, an ice-powered crimefighter known as Doctor Zero. He was a celebrated and respected hero in his day, whose exploits and adventures were well known.
He left the crimefighting life to settle down with his husband, a civilian named Evan, in the hopes of starting a family. They planned on having a child through a surrogate, though they debated for some time which of the two of them should be the bio-father; the thought of potentially passing down Zero's powers genetically was heavy on the ex-hero's mind. But as it turned out, Evan was infertile, meaning Adam was the only option. Despite his own misgivings, Evan assured him that the chances of passing down his powers were fairly low. And even if their child did end up with his powers, they'd at least have a noble, heroic father to teach them to use them wisely. In the end, Adam relented, and they soon welcomed their daughter, Abigail, to their family.
The pair of them raised the girl with love and affection, and all seemed well. Then, at age nine, Adam's anxieties proved true, and she began to manifest ice powers of her own. This was a turning point for him; now he had a superpowered child to raise, and the pressure was on to make sure she would grow to become a hero--or at the very least to not become a villain.
Abigail began training immediately, with her father teaching her to hone and use her powers, but also to use them responsibly. He really drilled into her the lessons he'd learned as a hero, and emphasized having empathy for others, being selfless, and never allowing herself to lose control.
As the years passed, this constant training began to wear on the young girl. Though at first she was excited to be a hero like her daddy, she gradually came to feel pressured by the idea. She grew outwardly moody and angsty, as teenagers often do, which only prompted Adam to press her further out of fear that she was growing apart from him and his teachings. Evan tried to get him to lighten up a little, but Adam was terrified of the idea that he might have sired and raised a future villain.
In his efforts to keep her on the straight and narrow, his grip tightened. He homeschooled her, kept her strictly under his watch, and seriously limited any potential bad influences--including kids her own age.
By age seventeen, Abigail was seriously starting to resent her father and his whole hero thing. In an act of teenage rebellion, she began sneaking out at night, using her powers to have fun for once. Mostly harmless fun--making miniature snow days for her friends, freezing over the public pool so they could ice skate, that sort of thing. Nothing that would hurt anyone.
When her father found out, though, he completely flipped. He confronted her as she returned home early one morning and read her the riot act, telling her off for using her powers so selfishly and irresponsibly. Abigail fought back, releasing all her anger and resentment, calling out his constant pressuring and stifling behavior.
Her other dad tried to calm them both down before things got too out of hand, but by that point it was too late. Things were too heated--and then, suddenly, very, very cool, as Abigail, having had enough, lashed out, snap-freezing the entire house. Both her dads were frozen solid instantly.
Abigail might have been horrified... but something snapped in her. Perhaps in emotional self-defense, or perhaps in an unconscious opposition to the constant axioms about empathy, Abigail found herself totally devoid of emotion--her heart as cold as ice.
Now she had the freedom she'd been wanting, but didn't even have the capacity to enjoy it, even if she'd wanted to. With her family dead, her home frozen, and no direction in life, she began using her powers in increasingly extreme ways in a desperate attempt to feel something again. When nothing could arouse any emotion in her, she decided to try directly opposing her late father's teachings and embarked on a life of villainy. Dubbing herself Absolute Zero--or Abby Zero, for short--she quickly rose to infamy. She created artificial ice-minions, orchestrated robberies and acts of icy terrorism, and became one of the most feared villains in Millennium City, and yet she felt nothing.
Thus far, the only hero she can fight who sparks even the tiniest iota of passion in her cold heart is Tezla. Something about her conflicts with the electric hero stir something within her, and in her never-ending pursuit of emotion and meaning, she regularly seeks out excuses to fight her.
Tezla pities her, even as she thwarts her crimes; she can tell she doesn't really want this, and holds out hope that Abby Zero can be helped one day. But in the mean time, she can only stop her acts of villainy, protecting the innocent from her icy brand of evil.
Hanzo Hamada - On the surface, Hanzo Hamada appears to be an upright, if reclusive, businessman, the head of a communications tech company called YouKaito. He's very well known for his philanthropic donations, and seems to be friendly, albeit slightly awkward, when he makes his rare public appearances. All seems perfectly above board. But, of course, this is hardly the truth.
In reality, Hamada is merely playing the part of the charitable CEO. Behind the scenes, he is the head of a ruthless criminal syndicate. His father had ties to the Yakuza, and was grooming his son to continue the family business in Japan. When Hanzo was a teenager, however, his latent telepathic abilities emerged in the midst of a heated argument with his father and several other prominent members of the organization. In a fit of anger, he lashed out in a fit of psychic fury so raw and powerful that it permanently damaged his right eye, and rendered his father and every other man in the room completely brain-dead, their minds shattered by his outburst.
Horrified by what he'd done and fearing retribution from the yakuza, Hanzo quickly fled Japan with a few loyal friends, and came to the United States. He had no money to his name, and very little support; he barely even knew any English. But he had a well-trained criminal skill set... and his new psionic powers. With these at his disposal, his path was clear: though he'd left the yakuza behind, Hanzo would forge his own criminal empire here in the United States.
No one could stand in his way. He gained funding for his business by mentally manipulating banks and donors into giving it to him; he bent the wills of useful individuals into becoming his enforcers and lackeys. Little by little, he built his business, both his legitimate front business and his real, criminal one. Before long, he thousands of underlings, millions of dollars, and a steadily growing area of influence, all while selling himself as a rags-to-riches success story in the public eye.
As his sphere of influence began to enter Millennium City, he discovered something rather new to him--actual opposition. Not from heroes, as one would expect, but from PSI, the villainous organization of mentalists led by Psimon. They sensed Hamada's power and considered him a threat to their own ambitions, and, as the only ones thus far with the ability to resist his mental machinations, they began to attempt to thwart his progress into the city in order to preserve their own dominance.
Hamada was so intrigued by this that he moved his base of operations to Millennium City, so as to be closer to the game of wits and violence unfolding there. He almost reveled in the thrill of fighting against these new opponents, even coming to blows himself with the likes of Medusa and Mindslayer, while his own underlings went to war with PSI's goons.
Their fighting, of course, put innocent lives in the crossfire, which drew the attention of the resident heroes--namely, Tezla. Hamada was at first amused by the sudden appearance of a third player, who swooped in and dispatched both his men and PSI's with surprising ease. But, as the conflict continued to escalate, and Tezla again and again defeated his pawns, Hamada began to realize that this little hero was going to be a real problem.
He ordered his most powerful enforcers to strike against the meddler, and this proved to be his greatest mistake; by targeting Tezla directly, he turned her attention right to him. Soon, he was fending off her electrical attacks, while she fought off his attempts at mind control. The battle ended with Hamada being forced to retreat, an act he found rather humiliating--but nonetheless thrilling.
To him, Tezla was a worthy adversary, an opponent worth playing against. The game, as he considers it, is still afoot; continually, she halts his plans, impedes his criminal endeavors and interferes with his war against PSI, and he silently enjoys every moment of it. After all, the game, diverting as it is, is his to win, as far as he's concerned. And in the meantime, he rather enjoys toying with this shocking little hero...
Hikari Hamada - Hanzo Hamada doesn't work alone; his is a complex and vast network of underlings, henchmen and enforcers. And second only to himself, he has his daughter, Hikari.
Hikari Hamada has always been loyal to her father, eager to please him and carry out his will. He raised her from a young age to serve his needs and be his right hand woman--and not without reason.
Like her father, Hikari possesses latent psionic abilities, which Hanzo could sense in her from a very young age. Unlike his own telepathic powers, however, hers are psychokinetic, allowing her to form deadly blades of mental energy and move physical matter through sheer force of will. Knowing she had this power within her was cause enough for Hanzo to want her by his side.
Unfortunately, however, her powers weren't manifesting quite as readily as his own had; despite years of training and practice, her telekinetic powers weren't progressing to the level of potency her father was hoping for. By age nineteen, she could still only maintain her mental constructs for a few moments, and could only move objects with any significant mass with great effort.
Hanzo's disappointment was evident, and Hikari was eager to win his approval. She begged him for more and more important jobs, more opportunities to prove herself. At first he granted her these opportunities, and she carried them out adequately enough... but still, her burgeoning powers remained pathetically impotent.
Watching her father grow cold and distant only made her more desperate. Resorting to drastic measures, she resolved to finally earn his pride in a mad gambit of a mission: infiltrating PSI headquarters.
Her plan was to sneak in, steal as much information as she could about her father's hated enemies, and sabotage their operation. When she returned, he'd surely be impressed and grateful, no matter how weak her powers were. Of course, this didn't work out for her at all--she was very quickly caught while in PSI headquarters, and captured.
PSI held her for two weeks, torturing her and performing horrific psychic experiments on her in their attempts to brainwash her into defecting to their side. She resisted as best as she could, but weeks of torment were beginning to wear on her. Her father was, naturally, aware of her predicament--with his telepathy, he could sense her distress halfway across the city. At first, he resolved to let her stay there; as far as he was concerned, it was her own stupidity and weakness that got her there, and she could get herself out... or perish trying.
Then again... she was his daughter, after all. And besides, there was the pragmatic issue of the possibility of her revealing secrets under torture...
Hanzo finally decided to send for her rescue, and enlisted, of all people, Tezla to help out. He knew none of his own operatives were up to the task of getting in and out of PSI HQ with his daughter alive, and he himself wasn't about to risk going in himself. So, why not get a hero to do what heroes do?
Tezla was indeed able to get into PSI HQ, and make her way to where they were keeping Hikari. She was, at the time, hooked up to some sort of brainwashing machine, moments away from a new round of mental tampering. Tezla busted in and fought off the PSI goons surrounding her, and very nearly saved her. Nearly.
As she fought, one of her electric jolts arced from the goon she had targeted and struck a nearby piece of machinery--which turned out to be connected to the machine attached to Hikari's head. Power surged through the machine and delivered a high-voltage shock to Hikari Hamada's cerebral cortex via the psychic nodes on her cranium. She screamed briefly, then lost consciousness.
Horrified, Tezla immediately sought to resuscitate her. She did manage to bring her around... but she wasn't entirely the same.
It soon became apparent, after Tezla had returned Hikari to her father's care, that her mental state had been altered by that psycho-electric shock. Her personality had changed--she was less reserved, more manic and zealous. Far less inhibited. But that's not all: much to her father's surprise and delight, her powers, likewise, had lost their inhibitions. That jolt had unlocked Hikari's true psionic potential; now, she could create and maintain constructs of remarkable durability from psychic energy, and could fling objects as heavy as cars around like paper balls.
At last, Hikari Hamada was the living weapon her father had always wanted her to be. Sure, she was a little... unpredictable now, a little bit of a loose cannon. But she was the deadliest mentalist in his entire organization, and he immediately put her in charge of his elite psychic units (though the idea was, of course, that they could control her at least a little bit in turn, should she ever get too unstable)...
Tezla, meanwhile, continues to feel guilty for her part in creating this monster. Though it had been an accident, it had been her electricity that had hurt Hikari and driven her insane. She continues to hold out hope that she can be treated, and perhaps even removed from her father's evil influence and turned to the side of good... but until then, Tezla has no choice but to fight her when she shows up to carry out Hanzo's evil bidding. After all, sane or not, she's still daddy's girl...
"The Client" - One thing about the Vibora incident still haunts Tezla: the mysterious client who first sent her and Daniela to steal Professor Wise's ion generator. They were never given any details as to the importance of the device, or what they wanted it for, and to this day she wonders what would have happened had they succeeded in stealing the prototype for them. She knows only one thing about this client: based on the amount of money they would have paid the pair of them for the job, they must be someone absolutely loaded with money.
One of her theories is that the whole job was a set-up by VIPER, intended to wrap up the loose end in the affair with her father, but this is little more than an idea, as there's little evidence to suggest this is the case. Another theory, suggested by Kinetik, is that it was Argent who wanted the generator, hoping to use it to power their robots or make new, terrifyingly powerful weapons to sell. But thus far, nobody has any real concrete ideas as to the client's identity or motives.
Tezla's hope is that she will one day be able to uncover the mystery of who this person was, and what they wanted with that data...
Foxbat - She just kinda hates him. He's gross. He's annoying. And he kidnapped Sapphire once, which really roused her ire, given her little crush Tezla has for her. Foxbatcon is her least favorite time of year, and she spends the entire time uncharacteristically sour and cranky.
General Perception
Most people tend to like Tezla. She's fiery, she's energetic, and she gets the job done. Her approval ratings in Millennium City are very high; people like seeing her bring villains to justice, and trust her to keep them safe.
Of course, nobody is universally loved; there are those who have their problems with her. Some are concerned that she's too weak to properly defend the city, while others dislike the destructive nature of her powers. There are a few people who have had their phones bricked because they happened to be near her when she was arcing, and are none too happy about it. But these naysayers are in the minority.
Her outreach work is well known, and she receives high praise for it. Seeing such a compassionate approach to stemming low-level crime definitely helps her approval ratings, and while there are always a few who would rather she simply beat up every criminal, most commend her for being able to help those who are struggling and just trying to survive. More perceptive people have deduced the fact that this compassion comes from a place of experience, and put together that, although the details are not known, she must have come from a background of struggle herself.
Her criminal past is not public record--UNTIL was thorough when expunging her record. The few people who might recognize Taranee as having once been half of a dastardly duo are either imprisoned criminals themselves, or have been paid off to keep their mouths shut. Tezla still worries that her past will get out, though, especially when her enemies are already so familiar with it; should Daniela herself decide to air their dirty laundry, there isn't much she'll be able to do about it. All she can do is keep being a hero, and hope that, if the truth ever does come out, the people will forgive her for her past sins.
Trivia and Miscellany
- Because of the link between her powers and her energy levels, Tezla sometimes has trouble sleeping when she's running on full. Thus, she has a habit of discharging her electricity into a specially-designed receptacle for it every night before bed, to make sure she's nice and tired. It recharges as she sleeps, so she wakes up fully juiced and ready for the day.
- Tezla's body is constantly humming with electricity. She hears it buzzing in her head at all times, and anyone who gets close enough to her will hear it, too. She's gotten used to it, of course, and is mostly able to tune it out.
- Tezla's eyes used to be brown, but turned shocking blue after she acquired her powers. If one looks closely at them, they can see they glow faintly with electricity.
- Despite the exceptional level of control of her powers she's achieved, Tezla still sparks a little when angry or agitated; small arcs can be seen jumping off her skin, and anyone who touches her might receive a mild but painful shock. Despite all her best efforts to control this involuntary sparking, Tezla has thus far been unsuccessful.
- For reasons unknown even to her, Taranee is terrified of clowns. They just really freak her out.
- When not fighting crime, Taranee still makes herself useful to the superhero community as the go-to mechanic for super vehicles. Other heroes will regularly bring their motorbikes, cars, hover tanks, jets and rocket ships to her for tune-ups and repairs, and she always leaves them running as smoothly as the day they were made.
- Tezla loves seafood, and her favorite food is crab legs. In contrast, she doesn't have much of a sweet tooth at all, and in fact dislikes most sweets.
- In her spare time, Taranee is a ravenous reader. She keeps a rather extensive library in her home, and reads a wide variety of genres. Her favorites are mysteries, with Sherlock Holmes being a particular favorite.
- Despite all the self-discipline she's cultivated over the years, Tezla is still not exactly perfect. In the heat of battle, she has on rare occasion been known to revert to the reckless habits she picked up during her criminal tenure. At the same time, she is traumatized by the incident with Professor Wise, and is afraid of harming innocent bystanders. Thus, she constantly oscillates between being a little too careless, and being petrified to the point of inaction, depending on her mindset and the circumstances of a given fight. Finding a proper balance is something she continues to struggle with.
- As a favor, UNTIL took over medical care of Professor Wise, and he continues to receive treatment at no cost in return for Tezla's service. He is no longer comatose, but the spinal damage he suffered has rendered him paralyzed from the waist down. Despite Taranee's involvement in his present condition, he has long since forgiven her, and is happy to see her thriving and doing good with her powers, but Taranee is still overcome with guilt. She visits him on occasion, but can never quite look him in the eye. Wise has expressed a sincere hope that she will one day be able to forgive herself for what happened.
- Division Seven was the end of UNTIL's Project Angel. The project was shelved following Reed's suicide and Teller's escape and return to villainy, the higher-ups deeming it too dangerous and not successful enough to be worth the funding. Tezla championed for its continuation, but was unsuccessful. No data exists regarding the first six Divisions or their members.
- Although she's all business when fighting crime, Taranee does still like to let loose and have some fun. She loves dancing and karaoke, and often makes appearances--both in and out of costume--at night clubs around Millenium City.
- While still in high school, Taranee was on her school's basketball team. She's a little out of practice after so long, but she still likes to play a little on occasion.
- In regards to her sexuality, Tezla is quite open. She freely flirts with other heroines (playfully, of course), her relationship with Prophetess is publically known, and she is a vocal proponent of LGBTQ+ rights.
