| Almera Eldridge | ||||||||||||||
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| "I just got my braces off this summer, and now I have metal teeth. Figures." |
Profile
Almera was a geek who managed to be considered less attractive than her identical twin sister. After turning sixteen and finally blossoming, her rise to popularity was destroyed, along with most of her home town. Monsters nicknamed Threems, humans infected with radioactive metal blood, have devastated the city and led to a hasty quarantine. Infected herself, Almera began a new change, into a strange hybrid of human and Threem. Her sister, mind lost to the same transformation, now leads the monsters in their mindless spread. Forced into the 'protective custody' of the Union, Almera tries to retain her humanity as her body mutates…and her mind slowly changes as well. Once your typical teenaged nerd and outsider, her brief membership with the fashionable in crowd was wrecked - along with the sports car she shared with her sister for their sixteenth birthday - and she found herself on the fringes of a new community. An outsider again, without even her sister's company, her new instincts and physiology might make it impossible for Almera to survive, leaving only the alien. They would truly be twins again, then.
Powers
THREEM HYBRID: Almera is one of only two humans infected with the Threem radation that has not lost her intelligence and control. Her blood is mixed evenly with the radioactive metal blood. She never tires and has no physical need for sleep or rest. She is much stronger than a normal human, although not particularly more agile. Her body continues to mutate as needed to withstand stressful, life threatening situations. By draining a living human's blood and replacing it with an injection of radioactive metal blood, accomplished through a bite, she can infect others. They would mostly likely become normal, mindless Threems.
ALIEN SENSES: Almera can somehow sense nearby uninfected humans, specifically their blood. This sense seems to be an alien one not specifically related to any of her normal five senses. Those can also be increased, as the transformation affects related parts of her body. Similarly, Threems are normally unable to 'see' her until she assaults one, alerting others to the threat. This same effect would likely occur in other, more traditional undead that would also not see her as a threat or target.
REGENERATION: Besides spreading the infection, the main reason Threems ingest blood is to fuel their regenerative powers. As a hybrid, Almera can power this with her own human blood. She can recover from serious wounds to flesh and organs quickly, although loss of limbs or broken bones may cause further mutation. Feeding from a human improves this power.
ALIEN METAL: After entering the bloodstream, this liquid metal spreads through the body slowly. The skeleton is mainly affected, with the skull being completely transformed in the first stage. Other bones change over time, or in response to injuries. Muscles and organs are saturated with the metal blood as well, vastly improving physical ability.
MUTATION: The longer the alien blood stays in her system, the more likely she is to mutate. These changes tend to begin with her skeleton and move outward, leaving her flesh and organs mostly unaffected. Claws and spines would not be unexpected. As her body becomes more alien, some internal organs and external features may be affected. Any changes are permanent, although some protrusions might be partially retractable.
CONTAINMENT SUIT: To protect others from the radiation she emits, Almera has been provided with a custom containment suit. The suit itself was based on a design by Skidplate, modified with Stark technology, including a donated Arc Reactor. The radiation absorbing technology was refined by Dr. Banner. So far, only these three experts have been cleared to perform suit maintanence. It also features a reinforced muzzle and tracking collar, which can shock or terminate Almera. These safeties were requested by both Stadler and herself.
MILITARY TRAINING: Once it was clear she'd be seeing combat, Stadler made certain she would be properly trained. With no need for sleep and no possibility of fatigue, she's been kept busy around the clock. A revolving crew of mundane soldiers and Elites have been teaching her the basics that would be expected of any recruit, including melee combat and more than she ever wanted to know about firearms. She's also being introducted to more esoteric skills one might pick up from ninja, super-heroes, mages, and etc. While currently only a beginner, she has more time and resources for training than most.
Flaws
Rare Blood Type: Almera and Malika share an incredibly rare blood type. This isn't harmful by itself, but meant their only convenient blood or organ donors were each other. They gave blood frequently, most donations stored at the local hospital, although this isn't very helpful now. This quirk is what lead to her unique condition.
Heavy Metal: Although the alien metal filling her bloodstream and skeleton is lighter than would be expected, it's still much heavier than human blood and bone. After the first stage, she weighed nearly double her original weight. As the infection spreads through her skeletal system, this will steadily increase. This metal also responds normally to magnetic attraction or powers, and her body conducts electricity frighteningly, painfully well. She is decidedly non-buoyant.
Inexperienced: Almera was not a trained fighter. She was not a soldier, martial artist or even very good at sports before her mutation. She has to fight urges to attack mindlessly, and doesn't have much finesse even when she's in control. She has been receiving constant military training, but she's still a novice in most aspects of combat.
Almost Human: While she retains self-control, the metal blood does flow through her brain. Without help, and possibly restraint, she'll fall victim to alien urges eventually, especially when not fed. Lack of sleep is having a mental affect, even if she's physically fine. While there might be ways to improve her mental state, she isn't trained or prepared for this.
Radioactive: Like all Threems, her body is highly radioactive. This causes no harm to the Threem, but affects others as would be expected. Further, after prolonged exposure, even a small amount of metal blood could trigger an infection, without need for the bite. Thick clothing can offer protection for a very limited time, although her containment suit nullifies this danger completely. Almera is only allowed to remove it while in certain Union facilities equipped to handle her emissions. This radioactivity briefly lingers on anything touched, making her rather easy to track and locate. Her containment suit's Arc Reactor still emits an energy signature that is altered by the radiation the suit absorbs, making it just as easy to detect.
