Saturday, April 2, 2011

V&V A to Z: Bouncing Betty

Character Name: Bouncing Betty     Secret ID: Betty Heyward      Side: Neutral
Gender: Female     Height: 5'11"     Weight: 160lbs     Age: 31
        
Physical Description: A tall black woman with a muscular build and short-cropped hair. When 'working' she favors military-style camo clothing.  

STR: 33     END: 16     INT: 11     AGL: 14     CHA: 11

Level: 8th     XP: 39,412     Basic Hits: 4     Hit Points: 25     Healing Rate: 1.6/day
Movement: 63" (ground), 30" (leap)     Power: 74  
Carrying Capacity: 3,003 lbs     HTH Damage: 1d12
Damage Modifier: +1     Accuracy: +1     Detect Hidden: 8%     Detect Danger: 12%  
Inventing Points: 1.8     Inventing: 33%     Reaction Modifier: -/-     Training: Agility  

Powers/Talents
Heightened Strength B: +19
Heightened Expertise: +4 to hit with military weapons
Mutant Power: Explosions - Betty can cause about 1 pound (1 ounce per pt of END, to be precise) of non-organic material to explode, sending fragments/shrapnel everywhere. Assuming that the material in question is of suitably hard material (i.e. brick, metal), it will attack as a HTH attack at +2, and cause 1d10 damage to everyone in a 2" (10 ft) radius that it successfully hits.  If she targets a non-moving area (i.e. a wall or a floor), she gains an extra +4 to hit.  Range is 16" (80 ft), and the PR=2 per attack.
Natural Weaponry: +2 to hit, +4 to damage in unarmed combat (martial arts training)

Equipment
Assault Rifle (+4 to hit, 1d10 damage, range 140")
Knife (+2 to hit, +1d2 damage, range 14")
Grenades (+2 to hit, 1d10 damage, blast radius 2")
Various military gear (walkie-talkies, Geiger counter, etc)

Areas of Knowledge
Sports, Military

Character Notes/Origin/Personality: Growing up a fairly average student, Betty Heyward hoped to get into college on an athletic scholarship, playing for both the girls' baseball and basketball teams.  However, she tended to rely more on strength than agility, and as a result was a benchwarmer for the most part.  Failing to get an athletic scholarship when she graduated from high school, and not able to afford to go to college otherwise, she instead enlisted in the Army.

She eventually saw action in the Gulf War, where she served honorably but without distinction.  Disillusioned with military service, upon mustering out she took a security position with a chemical firm called Ikol Enterprises.  This went reasonably well for about a year, until terrorists tried to hijack a shipment she was helping to guard.  Two different containers were punctured during the firefight, one containing an airborne biological agent, the other a liquid chemical reactant.  Those who were exposed to the airborne agent died fairly quickly.  Those that made contact with the liquid chemical took a few days to die.

Betty came into contact with both during the fight.  She quickly passed out, but unlike the others did not die as a result.  Several days later, she came to in an Ikol lab, and overheard the lab techs talking about how the two different chemicals had somehow mutated her DNA structure, and that they would have to perform a barrage of lengthy tests to see how to duplicate the results.  Not wanting to be a lab rat in a cage, Betty used her newfound powers to escape.

Using some of her old military connections, Betty re-invented herself as a superpowered mercenary.  Due to her ability to cause explosions, and her occasional tendency to use her superstrength to leap around while in combat, she picked up the nickname 'Bouncing Betty', after the landmine commonly used in WWII and Vietnam.  She will often be seen leading a group of non-powered mercenaries, but she has also at times signed on to work with other superhumans on various operations.  She will attempt to follow through on a given contract to the best of her ability, but once that contract is completed she has no particular loyalty to a former employee.  She prefers operations that are 'off the radar' for the most part, and prefers to avoid any media attention.  She has a great deal of animosity toward Ikol, and will sign up for operations against that company even if otherwise the price or the conditions would not be right.

Although her great strength and martial arts training make her a dangerous foe in hand-to-hand combat, she prefers to take out an opponent at a distance.  Unlike most high-strength types she is all-too-aware that she is just as vulnerable to various attacks as anyone else, and so prefers to attack from a position of cover.  She usually attacks with her rifle and regular grenades, saving her Explosions power for when it will do the most good, preferably as a surprise attack.  While no genius, she is highly experienced, and not prone to make stupid or suicidal mistakes during a firefight.          

Campaign Use: The PCs might encounter Betty in any number of ways.  If they are in some third-world country, she might well be leading a merc group working for the local warlord.  A supervillain group might also hire her on as extra muscle.  A criminal organization might hire her to help train and lead their various soldiers/thugs/goons.  A wealthy superhero might actually hire her to assist with a specific task, or just pay her for information regarding one of her many past clients.

Of course, Ikol Enterprises has not forgotten about her, and might set a trap for Betty, while tipping off the PCs (through one of their many shell corporations) as to where Betty will be showing up at.  Once captured and imprisoned, Ikol will use their connections to reacquire Betty, and then perform their long-delayed tests on her, in hopes of finding out how to create more superhumans.

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