The Mouse
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Background
Public Origin: The exact nature of Mouse's origin are some what muddled by destroyed records and a good bit of obfuscation on her own part, but the basics are clear enough. Working in a biological research position at Premiutech Laboratories in Millennium City, Melanie was one among many scientists duped into working for a secret VIPER Project, code named "Loyal Prey". Breeding and training mice to run a maze, then augmenting each generation with nano-DNA alterations, VIPER hoped to create a treatment to turn those who would not join the serpent into easily manipulated cowards, following their course loyally without fail. VIPER did not expect the attack made upon the laboratory by restless street hoods like the Maniacs, however. Deciding that week to be 'animal liberators', after a caper at a zoo and a local pound, they decided to try and free the mice at the laboratory. Melanie had the misfortune of having worked late that night, and in their zeal, the Maniacs threw and sealed her into the nano-augmentation chamber meant for the mice, before chucking a molotov cocktail onto their liberated mess.
Melanie was rendered unconscious by the nano-augmentation process and collapse of the building, but awoke amidst the rubble changed. She had lost a foot and a half of height in the process, eye color, hair, and even facial features changed, if still human, but most incredibly she had gained a great deal of strength, agility, and the minor regenerative capabilities that had let her survive the incident. Crawling out of the rubble, she was baffled and rather fearful of her changed condition, feeling out of synch with her new body and mind. While not fully successful, Project Loyal Prey had changed Melanie from a relatively outgoing person to a fearful one with an intense craving for external control and command by an authority figure- and she felt the difference keenly in her day to day life. Seeing that her old life had basically been destroyed in flame with the laboratory, Melanie sought to restore herself by any means necessary, including stealing the technology necessary to effect a cure. Melanie quickly found herself a natural thief due to her Maze Sense, a trait accidentally ingrained into the mice from their forced evolution, allowing her to quickly sense out the general size, scope, and lay out of a building the moment she stepped inside it, including the most likely exits, entrances, and places to hide valuables.
The Mouse's solo career was brief but brilliant, her small size, speed, and relatively low key methods making her a hard target to track down for most heroes. Her success in creating a 'cure' for her mental maladies and physical changes were less than stellar- while an accomplished biologist, she lacked the spark of genius many other superhumans seemed to possess, leaving her stymied and ready to give up hope. In the midst of her next robbery, while sneaking into the laboratory, she found her targetted 3-D Electron Scanner being lifted up by a pack of robots, lead by a masked giant in blue, calling himself Think Tank. Despite being scared, she was ready to leave when a masked vigilante attacked Think Tank! Quickly taking out the robots with an EMP, the hero seemed poised to triumph when Mouse interfered, tackling the hero and throwing him through a glass window, before making Think Tank a deal.
"If you can help me with creating a cure to my condition, I'll help you steal whatever you want."
Think Tank quickly accepted Mouse's offer and the two handily escaped, beginning a long crime spree. Think Tank's superhuman intellect combined with Mouse's talents allowed them to efficiently gather equipment for both their projects. Think Tank primarily seemed bemused by Mouse's efforts, working on the cure only sparingly, but in the mean time, Mouse's Loyal Prey inherent conditioning made her fall completely into Think Tank's thrall. She fell head over heels in love with the megalomaniac, forgetting all her plans for restoring her life, doing whatever he wished, until he had completed his doomsday device, a sonice device capable of destroying a city. Despite her love, her loyalty, and the knowledge that Think Tank would never forgive her, the Mouse sabotaged Think Tank's bid at global domination and contacted PRIMUS, a tipped off super team arriving to do the rest of the dirty work.
From that point on, the Mouse continued her criminal career half heartedly, concentrating on money matters, and having a few brief flings with other super villains, but nothing as close or serious as she had had with Think Tank. It was only a matter of time before she got careless and was captured by Nighthawk. Upon being tied up, she felt secretly thrilled rather than worried, and allowed her case to be brought before the courts.
It took most of her fortunes and a lot of lawyering, but due to the non-violent nature of her crimes and the scant proof left of her full involvement (or full rap sheet), plus her acts in tipping off heroes to dangerous villains, she was released under probation to serve the public good for no less than three years.
Melanie discovered the House of Thorns during this time, and thought it a good fit of dominant personalities to keep her on the straight and narrow and keep her from straying. Considering the House her second home and family, there is almost nothing the Mouse would not do for them.
In the last few years, UNTIL has exerted a good deal of pressure upon the Mouse, having special evidence they threatened to go public with. In return for UNTIL's silence, the Mouse has been used in a number of high stakes recovery operations around the globe, obtaining dangerous intel, artifacts, and devices from a variety of villainous organizations and exotic locales. She now works for UNTIL on a more equitable basis, no longer under full time contract or surveillance.
Appearance
A pretty and petite blond, the Mouse usually wears a gray and white skin tight suit made of damage resistant super materials, with thigh high boots, long gloves, a scarf, utility belt, and thin mask.
Personality
Melanie is extremely friendly, playful, and talkative... in small groups. Large social situations make her nervous, and she is usually shy and a bit embarassed around new people. Despite all that, her love of the House of Thorns has made her play the role of unnofficial greeter, and she will often hug people before she even knows their name. In combat, she is very quiet, completely task focused with little in the way of nerves, dancing through the fight with ease, but between melees, she often let's her nerves come to the fore.
Abilities
The Mouse has the following super abilities:
Enhanced Strength: Melanie is capable of lifting several tons over her head. Her strength has definite limits, capable of lifting just a little more than your average car over her head. Her punches are quite hard, but can cause her a good deal of pain when striking hard targets such as invulnerable men and robots, which is why she uses a pair of titanium fighting claws. This strength allows her to leap high into the air as well as run at tremendous speeds.
Enhanced Agility and Reflexes: Mouse is capable of moving quickly with a great degree of flexibility. She seems capable of a variety of minor acts of acrobatics and contortion with casual ease, most often used to dodge anticipated attacks, sneak around cameras and other security, and to strike quietly and quickly against her enemies.
Regeneration: Not a 'true' regenerator, Melanie is capable of healing minor wounds in a matter of minutes, major wounds in a matter of hours, and often surviving injuries that would kill a normal human being. The longest Melanie has taken to recuperate from an attack since her accident was a weak after being hit with an evil, magical sword on one of her UNTIL missions.
Maze Sense: The Mouse's Maze Sense allows her to quickly ascertain the size, scope, layout, and general sense of any building she enters, though it only extends so far. The sense is sharply specific in the size of a room, instinctually accurate up to three floors in either direction, and gradually leveling off. This makes many structures, such as VIPER bases, harder to figure out in their entirety without exploring further and further in. It also allows her to find hiding spots and sense valuable objects, making it easy for her to find vaults, labs, and other typical 'loot' areas.
Affiliations
The Mouse is a long standing member of the House of Thorns.
