Red Spider is a Millenium City superheroine.

Formerly known as the sword-wielding Slash, Red Spider possibly became more famous for avoiding the spotlight after clips began to appear on YouTube of her crime fighting.

She once worked exclusively alone, but has emerged as the leader of the Adventurers super team. Little else is known of this young hero because she guards her secret identity carefully. It is commonly believed that she may have no actual super powers.

Secret Identity

((Few characters should know any of the following except her closest allies.))

Red Spider is actually Cassandra Olsen of Millennium City.

Formative Years

A privileged life was always Cassandra's destiny from birth. Her father had made his fortune investing in companies which manufactured construction implements and materials in the wake of the destruction of Detroit. But Bill and his wife Marie had their first and only child several years after their peers, and learned that a privileged life, without proper guidance, can lead to spoiled, entitled, selfish children. Bill brought up his daughter to recognize that her status gave her a responsibility to the community.

From the age of 3, Cassandra trained in dance. Her parents worried that they were putting too many demands upon her when she begged to also be allowed to take part in gymnastics, but gave in because she showed undeniable talent.

While other children at her private school and her church might be sent abroad for mission trips, Bill Olsen impressed upon his daughter that there was enough people in need of help close to home in their recovering city, which too many were too willing to overlook.

Cassandra volunteered at homeless shelters, city clean-ups, and other local relief projects.

First Adventure

Cassandra completed grades 1 through 8 in a private school. Cassandra asked to be sent to public school at Millennium City High School. Her time spent helping in the more needy areas of Westside made her feel more at home in the school.

Where early on some students detected the whiff of her wealthy upbringing and tried to intimidate her, she managed to hold her own and impress many with her unwillingness to back down. While she tended to hang out with the athletics crowd, she had friends across many cliques.

In senior year two of Cassandra's friends seemed to be falling in with a gang. She sought her father's advice, but he suggested she stay out of it, for fear that she might get hurt. Inspired by colorful costumed crime fighters in Millennium City, Cassandra made a simple costume and used all of the money she had to buy a Japanese sword. Her idea: scare the gang, and give her friends pause to think twice about joining. The scheme worked, although foreshadowing her future career, Cassandra was nearly in over her head.

Cassandra learned to carefully surveil crooks rather than confront.

A Costumed Crime Fighter

Buoyed by success Cassandra kept trying to fight crime in Westside. Her weekend volunteering in shelters and free clinics let her learn about some of the crooks hurting people in that part of town, and as the costumed crime fighter *Slash* she was able to intimidate the bad guys back.

Being shot at, or being unmasked on one occasion, didn't deter Slash. She did take care to practice her skills, and focus on sneaking and gathering evidence, rather than confrontation. She also stopped using the sword, because it had a way of slowing her down, and she had no desire to wound people very deeply with it - a fact her enemies had come to realize and exploit.

Once she started using a cable grappler, she changed her costumed identity to *Red Spider*. It made sense since she was ostensibly traveling on threads, and one of her friends remarked that when hitting a punching bag during a workout, that she seemed to have eight arms.

BEAM GRAPPLERS - Wrist-worn counter-gravitational beam projectors are a unique invention. They were crafted by Red Spider under the guidance of Doctor Silverback. Red Spider was already skilled at using a cable grappler to move quickly along rooftops, or make a quick escape, yet the act of using it often caused injury to the arm or shoulder when the line would go from slack to taut. The beam grappler's advantages are in both dramatically reducing strain on the user's shoulder and arms, as well as lessening damage to property by having no tangible impact on the structure being grappled upon. Red Spider has become skilled at using a beam swing to drive into enemies.

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RED SPANDEX COSTUME - The classic costume originated from Red Spider's secret identity life. A surplus sale at her university's theater costume shop led her to buy several red bodysuits at a time when she was transitioning from her former 'Slash' identity. She created a simple web pattern for the upper body, and made some special eye coverings that were large and would help conceal the shape of her face. The form-fitting costume didn't restrict her range of movement, and lacked accessories like a cape that she felt would only encumber her.

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BLACK NANOWEAVE COSTUME - This costume has nanoweave armor, environmental filters for airborn toxins, protection from temperature extremes, kinetic dispersal, and enhanced visual modes. The most recent version of this was assembled by fellow Adventurer Lady Justice. This suit addresses some of Red Spider's key vulnerabilities when she is fighting super-powered adversaries, while avoiding being encumbering.

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THE HOODED COSTUME - With the help of Lady Justice, Red Spider designed a costume that might assist her in stealthy missions. It departs from previous Red Spider costumes in several ways. First, the cape & hood which she had tried to avoid as an encumbrance in previous costume designs. Second, the claws. While the claws are meant for scaling walls, they can be used for combat as well. The suit has several built in tech features like her black nanoweave costume, but especially better protection against slashing or piercing weapons.

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HOLO ARMS - The most recent versions of Red Spider's nanoweave costume included a built in hard light projection system. Tapping a hidden button over the solar plexus adds four arms which are guided intuitively by reading Red Spider's nerve impulses. These arms have proven useful when Red Spider fights especially dangerous enemies, or when she needs to make contact with something (i.e. toxic, radioactive) that she would be better not to use her own limbs. The holo arms, while formidable, have a limitation: they run on a network of nano power cells embedded in her costume that can only withstand approximately 30 minutes of sustained use. For this reason, Red Spider uses this feature sparingly.

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SPIDER MICS - Red Spider uses small microphones disguised as tiny spiders to perform surveillance on crooks. This suits her preferred style of gathering evidence and avoiding confrontation unless absolutely necessary.

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Selected Stories

Stories

Tales from Caprice #4 First appearance of 'Slash' in a one-off moralistic story about a girl from a well-to-do family who takes on a costumed identity to stop some young men from squandering their potential by scaring them from joining a gang.

Slash #1 - Continuing the story of 'Slash', a girl with a sword, some fast dancing feet, and more bravery than sense. After escaping the first serious prospect of death at the hands of some crooks, she resolves to continue on.

Slash #13 - After a third time being parted from her sword, Slash has to rely on her wits to escape a deadly situation. At the end of the issue, she realizes she doesn't need a sword to be an effective hero. Final issue in this series ends with Cassandra learning to fight hand-to-hand.

Remarkable Red Spider #1 - As her first year at college comes to an end, Cassandra Olsen hasn't dressed up as Slash for six months. A sale at the drama department's costume warehouse gives her access to a few red spandex bodysuits, which she repurposes for her new costumed identity: the Red Spider.

Remarkable Red Spider #6 - As she sinks into the river bound in chains set by a villain, Red Spider's memory flashes back to a summer course in stage magic that taught her how to escape such situations.

Remarkable Red Spider #11 - Red Spider first meets Guidelight.

Remarkable Red Spider #16 - Red Spider first meets Fox.

Remarkable Red Spider #19 - First appearance of the black nanoweave costume

The Adventurers #3 - The formation of the Adventurers, with Red Spider as the team leader.

Remarkable Red Spider #20 - Red Spider's first fight with Kingsnake

The Adventurers #8 - Red Spider & the Adventurers defeat Dr. Killowatt, her first major supervillain opponent!

Remarkable Red Spider #25 - First meets Daydream and begins investigating leads on the Chairman

The Adventurers #9 - First meets Blue Wonder, Lady Justice, and Mark of Power

The Adventurers #11 - Infected with the experimental alien retrovirus by the evil Dr. Skala

The Adventurers #16 - Cured of the alien virus and its transformative effects by Lady Justice. Gets 'hard light' augmentation to her nanoweave costume.

Remarkable Red Spider #29 - With support from Blue Wonder and Jason Leander, Cassandra reveals to her father that she is the Red Spider

Remarkable Red Spider #44 - Encounters Mantis, who helps her save lives at an apartment fire.