Post by Cassandra Sandsmark on Aug 12, 2012 11:05:10 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=valign, top][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, border: 10px solid #f1e3b4; width: 450px; background-color: #f6f7f1;][STYLE=font-family: times new roman; font-size: 36px; color: #191919; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 2px;]PERSONAL FILE[/style][STYLE=font-family: arial; font-size: 8px; color: #FF0000; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 2px;]HIGHLY CLASSIFIED AND CONFIDENTIAL[/style][STYLE=float: right; margin: 10px 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 10px solid #FFFFEE;] [/style][STYLE= color: #000000; background: #BBDD22; font-family: courier new; font-size: 15px; text-align: center; width: 296px; margin-left: 05px; font-weight: bold; padding: 02px;]GENERAL INFORMATION[/style][STYLE=color: #191919; font-size: 10px; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 10px;]NAME: Cassandra SandsmarkALIAS: Wonder Girl GENDER: Female AGE: 18 OCCUPATION: Reluctant Crime Fighter, former Thief ALIGNMENT: Good AFFILIATION(S): Teen Titans[/style] [STYLE= color: #000000; background: #BBDD22; font-family: courier new; font-size: 15px; text-align: center; width: 296px; margin-left: 05px; font-weight: bold; padding: 02px;]PHYSICAL PROFILE[/style][STYLE=color: #191919; font-size: 10px; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 10px;]HEIGHT: 5’9” WEIGHT: 160 lbs EYES: Blue HAIR: Blonde CLASSIFICATION: Human UNUSUAL FEATURES: None of note BEHAVIOR PROFILE[/style][STYLE= margin: 0px 10px 0px 10px; border: 2px solid #191919; padding: 2px; font-family: verdana; height: 125px; overflow: auto; font-size: 11px; color: #000000; text-align: justify; background-color: #ffffff; opacity: 0.8] Have you ever made a sacrifice? Not just the little ones that everyone makes on a day to day basis, giving up a favourite food or not going to see a film maybe, but the big ones. The sort of sacrifice that changes a life. Because that is the sacrifice that Cassandra Sandsmark made. Of course, it is not exactly that simple, because (true to her nature) she made a choice without knowing all the little details, but that is what has made her life what it is today. She chose to make a sacrifice for another human being and, because the world is not made up of sweetness and light, she’s been punished for it with pain, uncertainty and eventual death. Isn’t that lovely? No, it isn’t, and a good deal of Cassie’s personality can be laid before the altar of that one choice. To give her what she is due, despite the pain and the fear and all the rest of the costs that she has paid and continues to pay, she would make the same choice today (regardless of what she might say about her stupid life choices), but then Cassie has never lacked for courage. Or stubbornness. So, who is Cassandra Sandsmark? Setting aside the sharp, sarcastic quip the girl herself would likely give, the best answer is probably (though she’d not think this way) a warrior. Certainly not a soldier, for (as has been noted) she lacks discipline and the ability to just follow orders separate of her own opinion, but a warrior and a fighter. This can be seen in her pugnacious nature and the way that her fight or flight switch seems almost perpetually set to fight despite her occasional suggestion that she’d leave her teammates in the lurch during the early days of her membership of the team. No, Cassie is almost at her happiest these days when in the middle of a good fight and her preferred means of dealing with stress, problems and other things is to hit something or someone (hence her preference for telling her intended target how little she cares about who they are, why they are there or anything much else). This should not be taken to mean she just punches people at random, but if Cassie is in a mood, the worst thing anyone can do is give her an excuse to thrash them. She likely will. To build upon something said above, Cassie’s fight or flight response bears expanding. She’ll never run from a physical fight, no matter how outclassed she is. It is true she likes a fight, but more than that fights are easy. What Cassie is really afraid of is her own armour. That scares her, as do the rare blackouts, the need to be in control of it and the fact she knows it is going to kill her. Dying in battle, though she isn’t in a rush for it and will fight to the end to live against any enemy, likely beats her soul being sucked out later. She hides this though, as best she can, from her teammates. She hasn’t told them about how she got the armour or why or even much about what it can do, because Cassie likes to deal with her problems herself. She’d rather keep her secrets even though it just adds worrying about getting them killed to her list of problems. And she’s downright terrified of the idea of just losing control and the Armour taking over. On the other hand, she’s also just plain reckless. True, part of this is down to the knowledge she’s practically a dead girl walking anyway, but it is also due to having near invulnerable armour and superhuman strength and so on. She is just out of the league of most people, and Cassie both knows, likes it and is confident in her skin. She has no objections at all to being strong, tough, powerful. And she is certainly willing to take full advantage of all that. On top of this, she is belligerent and pushy, always choosing to take the initiative in any situation, to be the aggressor, to attack. It keeps the focus off her issues and lets her choose the terms of engagement. That isn’t necessarily conscious, because Cassie is just aggressive and blunt by nature with some definite temper issues, but it is how she acts. She’s brash, she’s self-assertive, impertinent, tactless… The list goes on. This is where what have been called her ‘boundary issues’ come in, and some people using that term as a stand-in when they really mean kleptomania. That is not technically accurate, however. Cassie is not a compulsive thief. She doesn’t, for example, have any interest in stealing things for their monetary value, or she wouldn’t have a house full of stuff. Thanks to her mother, what Cassie likes stealing (other than fast cars for kicks) are ancient artefacts, mostly Greek or Roman and mostly ones relating to war, although her collection spans other continents as well (hence the statue of Kali on her dresser). She has spears, shields, statues of Ares and Athena and Mars and Minerva and more, skulls, helmets… the list goes on. In short, Cassie has a ‘what’s yours is mine and what’s mine’s my own’ attitude towards possessions. She’s also outwardly hard to get close to by choice. She’s confrontational, always ready to be sarcastic or biting and Cassie strongly dislikes being underestimated. One way that is guaranteed to raise her hackles is to call her Wonder Girl, a title she loathes because of its association with Wonder Woman. Cassie has nothing to do with Wonder Woman, and is perfectly happy with that. She’s slightly better about it now, but still tends to get angry when people outside the team use it. In general though, Cassie’s reaction to the sacrifice she made has been to try and stay away from other people and their problems, thinking she had enough of her own. She’s also judgemental at times, tending to stubbornly stick to an opinion until it is definitely, certainly and absolutely proven wrong. In other ways, she’s surprisingly tolerant of other people’s life choices, or perhaps not surprisingly given her own veganism and belief (but not faith) in the old Greek gods. Reading the above, one might think that Cassie doesn’t have any friends. That isn’t exactly true. Since joining the Teen Titans, she’s allowed herself, despite her better judgement, to get some friends. She’s still not always easy to get along with, although she is easier once people get past that initial layer of defences. It also depends on the person, as she has very different relationships with some of her teammates to those she has with others, as perhaps is natural. Some people, she opens up to quickly, others it takes longer and it’s always her that sets the limits. She draws the lines. With those she cares about, Cassie instinctively acts as a protector, again despite her often wondering why and so on, but she’s always had the urge to protect others even before she took on the Silent Armour. The flipside is that she has authority issues – because she is brilliant and knows it, Cassie is quite happy to trust her own judgement over others and sees no reason to alert the rest of the team before leaping in. This, naturally, can get her into big trouble. To summarise, then, Cassie is… complicated. She’s brash and belligerent, but it covers a softer, more protective centre underneath. But, on no counts, should she be considered weak or stupid. She is something of a free spirit, someone who doesn’t like having to play by other people’s rules, and it shows in her overall forceful nature, as well as someone who refuses to be defined by anyone or anything else. [/style][STYLE=color: #191919; font-size: 10px; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 10px;]DOCUMENTED HISTORY[/style][STYLE= margin: 0px 10px 0px 10px; border: 2px solid #191919; padding: 2px; font-family: verdana; height: 125px; overflow: auto; font-size: 11px; color: #000000; text-align: justify; background-color: #ffffff; opacity: 0.8] Cassandra Sandsmark is a complicated young woman. She is the daughter and only child of Dr Helena Sandsmark, a world-famous archaeologist and expert in Greek history, particularly of the Mycenaean civilisation and the so-called Dark Ages that followed its demise at the hands of the Dorian invasions although her interests also spanned other continents and periods of history. One of the few things that her daughter was to take away from her mother was an abiding interest in archaeology, in a fashion at least. Perhaps this was because Cassie grew up in a home without a father, where her mother was often only present when it didn’t conflict with her latest dig or that big conference. It wasn’t that Helena chose to ignore her daughter for long stretches of time, interspersed with periods of trying to make up with it by being interested to the point of overbearing, but that was the net effect, particularly as Cassie grew older. It maybe didn’t help that, landed with a mother who always had particular… expectations of her daughter and who was (to say the least) overbearing and critical of her daughter and her interests, Cassie lacked a father figure. Her mother never really spoke about her father, other than to say he’d left them as soon as he’d heard Helena was pregnant, and Cassie never managed to find out anything else. Really, she didn’t care less, because the kind of man who ran away from his pregnant wife wasn’t the sort of father she wanted, but it almost certainly made its mark on her anyway. Naturally, it didn’t help that Cassie grew up to be a strong-willed, forceful teenager, who was willing to tell her mother exactly what she thought. It didn’t mean that she didn’t love her mother, but she often found herself resenting the unwanted intrusions as well as the nagging feeling that she’d never be good enough for the great Helena Sandsmark, despite Cassie’s clear brilliance. What really didn’t help was that their interests just didn’t match up. Helena didn’t get her daughter’s (admittedly unusual) mix of interests, telling her to “lay off the gym” at least once when Cassie was fifteen because she was “built like a linebacker”, something Cassie took as a point of pride, while the teenager’s fascination with the warrior side of archaeology escaped her mother too. She didn’t see why Cassie would be so gripped by the stories of the Amazons or the old weapons they dug up, but utterly bored by the more useful things. And the more Helena tried to change her daughter, the more Cassie dug in her heels. Having grown up (as she saw it) without an authority figure, she disliked her mother trying to become one and so she did what most teenagers did – she rebelled. But, as always, Cassie did it in her own special way. As noted above, Cassie was always the athletic type, spending time at the gym and had started to learn kickboxing, boxing and also Greco-Roman wrestling to burn off excess energy and increasingly because her mother disapproved. Despite that and their other disagreements, Helena couldn’t deny that her daughter was perfectly suited to spending time with her on a dig site. Cassie, when she wanted to, had never been bad at lying – it was just that her stubbornness left her unwilling to admit she’d been wrong most of the time – and when she asked politely and nicely if she could come along one summer to a dig site in Greece when she was fourteen, well, Helena couldn’t think of a good reason to say ‘no’. Cassie didn’t really know what she was going to do. She just knew she wanted a little revenge. It wasn’t until she saw the little dagger, with its iron blade and bronze handle, that she worked out what form her petty revenge would take. It fitted so nicely in her suitcase too, and then it wasn’t as if her mother ever checked what she kept in her room. Of course, when Helena didn’t notice, it just made sure Cassie would do it again. And then again. After all, nobody suspected her, and why would they? After all, she was smart enough to take things that hadn’t been recorded and most people who saw them later wouldn’t know an original Mycenaean statue from a museum-bought replica if one hit them on the head. Still, this was destined to get her into big trouble. When she was just sixteen, already sitting on a pretty haul of trophies, Cassie went with her mother to a dig in the mountains of south-eastern Europe, in what was in ancient times the Kingdom of Macedon. An ancient temple had been found, which Helena Sandsmark believed to date back three thousand years. Cassie came along on the off chance of finding something neat to add to her little pile, but didn’t really expect much. While roaming the site, she came across a boy about her age, who she found herself becoming… interested in. Mostly, maybe as a summer fling, but he was smart and a little older and definitely interested in her. What Cassie didn’t know yet was that he had ulterior motives – he was there for something in particular, something he thought was buried in the temple and she was his way to it. For Cassie, her mother disapproved again which was reason enough, plus she liked him. Even if he did tend to tell her about her temper issues a bit much sometimes. But, as Fate would have it, there were only the two of them present when they found the chamber hidden behind the altar and the passageway down into the mountain’s heart. What they found down there was a vault that nobody had entered for nearly three millennia. It had been locked, but either the magic had faded or something within had made the way clear for the Sandsmarks and the doors simply opened at a push. Within, they found another altar, this one dedicated to an ancient god of War. On it lay two vambraces, beside what appeared to be a coil of barbed wire. Cassie reached out for them… And she doesn’t like to talk about what happened next. About how her mother was taken over by a monster, about how she made a deal with a devil to save her mother’s life at the cost of her soul, about how she’s been through hell every day since because of it. Really, just words couldn’t express that day anyway. It didn’t help that her prospective boyfriend had disappeared nor that her mother, on recovering, had apparently forgotten the whole mess. Even if that was really for the best. Nor had Cassie managed to grab the stone tablets she’d been sure had the instructions before the temple collapsed behind her. Working out how to use the Armour was made easier by the fact it seemed to… talk to her in her dreams, meaning that it wasn’t too hard. Still, it wasn’t her idea of fun. But it did help in one way. Now Cassie could be totally independent, and she revelled in it. Now that she could die at any time, she went out to enjoy the life she had. Most of all, she began to steal artefacts in ever increasing numbers, from dig sites and from museums, using her powers to get them back home easily. She didn’t waste much time being careful, so soon enough the brash blonde had earned herself a name across Europe. Her powers, the Greek-styled armour she wore and obvious youth made certain that, to Cassie’s disgust, that name was ‘Wonder Girl’. It also got her run ins with Interpol, to their disadvantage, while her thefts from American museums led to at least one battle with a SWAT team. She won. Then there were the sports cars too… and it was one of those which, when Cassie was seventeen, changed her life again. For the better, this time, because it was her theft of a car that let NOWHERE find her and that, in turn, led her to the Teen Titans and that is where Cassie can currently be found, still struggling with her secrets and hoping that they don’t get her or her new friends killed. And she still isn’t aware that her ex-boyfriend is actually a psychotic cultist bent on using the Silent Armour to end the world. But that is a story for another time… [/style] [STYLE=color: #191919; font-size: 10px; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 10px;]POWERS AND ABILITIES[/style][STYLE= margin: 0px 10px 0px 10px; border: 2px solid #191919; padding: 2px; font-family: verdana; height: 125px; overflow: auto; font-size: 11px; color: #000000; text-align: justify; background-color: #ffffff; opacity: 0.8] KNOWN POWERS:
Note: Cassie is not a metahuman. She has no innate powers, and all of those she has are granted by the Silent Armour. If it were to somehow be removed, it would leave her powerless but, as removing it would likely kill her in the process, this is an unlikely eventuality. In the power grid below, her abilities without the armour are in dark red while her statistics as enhanced by it are in lighter red. KNOWN ABILITIES:
STRENGTH LEVEL: Super Human. So long as she has the Silent Armour, Cassie is capable of lifting weights weighing up to 100 tons. Without it, she is possessed of the strength of a young woman of muscular build who engages in regular intensive exercise and activity. WEAKNESSES:
 [STYLE=color: #191919; font-size: 10px; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 10px;]PARAPHERNALIA[/style][STYLE= margin: 0px 10px 0px 10px; border: 2px solid #191919; padding: 2px; font-family: verdana; height: 125px; overflow: auto; font-size: 11px; color: #000000; text-align: justify; background-color: #ffffff; opacity: 0.8] EQUIPMENT:
TRANSPORTATION:
WEAPONS:
[STYLE=color: #191919; font-size: 10px; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 10px;]EXAMINATION RECORD[/style][STYLE= margin: 0px 10px 0px 10px; border: 2px solid #191919; padding: 2px; font-family: verdana; height: 125px; overflow: auto; font-size: 11px; color: #000000; text-align: justify; background-color: #ffffff; opacity: 0.8] Some people, ones who’d just watched the young woman the media almost universally dubbed Wonder Girl in action, might think ‘hey, wouldn’t it be cool to have magic armour?’ or maybe ‘wouldn’t it be fun to have super powers?’. Cassandra Sandsmark, currently curled up on the floor of the bathroom, with lips skinned back and teeth bared in a grimace of agony, with eyes shut tightly and brows furrowed, with her head thrown back and her muscles tense… She’d happily tell them the truth. Of course, the spikes that protruded from her skin, marching down her calves in a neat row and in starburst clusters on her shoulders, told their own story. As did the blood that oozed its way from the punctures, welling up at the base of each spike and dripping slowly down her bare flesh. No, the Silent Armour definitely wasn’t a gift. It was hell in god-forged bronze, pain and blood all wrapped up in strength and power. With an effort of will, Cassie forced it away again, feeling the spines retreat back under her skin, each wound closing so that, when she stood a moment later, there wasn’t even a wound on her. Only the last of the blood, soon wiped away, was any sign and the shattered remains of her mirror underfoot, something she was reminded of by the crunch of glass underfoot. She’d leave that. It’d explain the crash, any little drops of blood she’d missed could be explained away from cutting herself on the glass and it wasn’t like the team wasn’t used to her occasional ‘slips’. Cassie’s control of her strength was good, but it wasn’t perfect and she’d been known to put her fist through the wall in a fit of temper. Hey, accidents happened, particularly with strength like hers. She’d write it off to that, if any of the others even noticed. Gingerly, she flexed her fingers, feeling the warmth of the war bracelets wrapped tightly around her wrists and the lingering presence of the Armour under her skin, but at the least there wasn’t that awful sense of the cold bronze pushing through her skin. Just the memory made her shiver. She always wore the Armour, always, even when the others couldn’t see it. It was always there, even when she was wearing something else. And she tried not to think about that much, because the way it seemed to take the laws of physics as a personal insult gave her a headache. She knew she was smart, maybe not a genius, but clever. This still made her feel like an idiot. But the spikes and the rest of the Armour, that went somewhere else. And it hurt likes Hades when it tried to come out. There was a knock on the door. From staring balefully at the bronze bracelets, Cassie’s eyes snapped to it, wide with the potential for sudden panic and suddenly very, very aware of the blood that was still drying down her legs and coating her arms. No. Not like this. “Go away,” she barked to whoever it was, lunging for a towel. The knock was repeated, a voice said… something and she saw the handle of the door start to turn. “Go away!” This time it was a snarl backed with very real fury. “If you open this door, I’ll put your head through the other mirror.” Whether it was the anger, the threat or what, she didn’t know, but she heard footsteps moving away. A deep sigh of relief escaped her and Cassie slumped back against the sink, running a hand through her hair before folding muscular arms across her chest. She needed to hit something. Preferably someone or something moving, but she’d settle for a punching bag. The others didn’t need to know. Really, they’d be best off if she just left, but she knew they’d never just let her go and, in her heart, Cassie didn’t want to go. So she stayed, even though she kept telling herself it was a bad idea. She tightened a hand into a fist. Meantime. She was going to punch something. [/style][STYLE=color: #191919; font-size: 12px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center; font-family: courier new]subject examined by Doctor Cyber[/style] | [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, width: 40px;][STYLE=background-color: #f1e3b4; font-family: times new roman; font-size:30px; color: #404040; min-height: 150px; padding: 5px; text-align: center; moz-border-radius: 0px 10px 10px 0px; -o-border-radius: 0px 10px 10px 0px; border-radius: 0px 10px 10px 0px; -webkit-border-radius: 0px 10px 10px 0px;]W O N D ER G I R L[/style] |
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