Riposte

Riposte
Riposte in costume
Author	/u/Scrublord_Koish
Civilian name	Elena Miller
Alignment	Hero
Affiliation	Protectorate (Devilfish)
PRT Classification	Thinker/Striker/Trump
Born	(1995-08-17) August 17, 1995 Grand Rapids, Michigan, America
Status	NPC

Riposte has been a Protectorate hero for the better part of a year in the state of Michigan, being marketed as a 'counterattack striker' to the public. Despite that, she has been seen out on patrol far less than her colleagues.

Character Sheet

Appearance

In costume, Elena wears a costume not that far from a medieval knight, a few pouches hanging alongside a belt holding a sheath for a sword. The tabard overlaying the armor holds a symbol of a sword behind a shield.

Out of costume, Elena keeps herself tidy. Short brown hair kept to just above shoulder length and just enough makeup to cover up whatever state of disarray the morning has left her in. This, combined with a tendency to dress neatly even in casual situations gives her the air of an overachiever.

Equipment and Resources

• Several straight, double sided knives of varying sizes kept in holsters around her costume as backups
• Two sets of five throwing knives held in holsters. One at each hip.
• Cellphone
• Several pairs of handcuffs
• PRT issued ceramic plate body armor under her costume
• A handgun (held in her bedside table for emergencies)
• A voice modulator for use while in costume
• Protectorate hero salary

Skills and Specializations

• Excellent at close quarters combat with various bladed weapons and hand to hand
• Decently accurate at knife throwing
• Personell management
• Mediocre at calligraphy
• Decent shot with her handgun

Mentality

Elena is a paranoid schizophrenic. They are constantly haunted by what appear to be the minions of their former cape SO. Crawling over the walls when she's alone, all over her when she's asleep and on the shoulders of villainous capes they encounter. And always whispering, always talking.

They have made efforts to improve and ignore it, but have a tendency to relapse when under high stress and sometimes suppress harmful memories.

This schizophrenia is natural, coming as a result of trauma. She has been taking anti psychotic medication to lessen its severity.

Outside of this she makes a good effort to be busy with something constantly, always trying to focus on something instead of letting her mind wander.

Power

When she intends to inflict damage on something, golden marks will appear in her vision on the target of the intent. These spots do not have to be on actual weak points of the target, but in these cases it will always house a mark.

When Riposte attacks and hits one of these marks, the target struck will 'break', undergoing complete structural failure originating from the mark's location.When a mark is hit, Riposte's intent on how much damage is to be dealt impacts how much of the target's structure is destroyed. So she could differentiate between breaking a golf ball sized hole in a wall and making one large enough to step through. When hitting a mark on a living creature, it will multiply the amount of effective force affecting the target by up to a factor of 3x instead of its usual 'structural collapse' effect.

Additionally, the weapon used to strike the mark, which can also be a part of Riposte's body, gains resistance against damage from the struck target for a few seconds afterwards. So punching a wall or would not break her hand. (In the case of a body part, it does not extend very far from the area used. A fist would spread the effect up to her elbow for instance.)

Additionally, Riposte's attacks carry a trump based side effect.

When hitting a mark, any power effects that would have affected Riposte or the weapon used do not have any of their usual effects on either for a few seconds afterwards. Power based effects and materials also do not benefit from any increased resistance or defenses against the effects of a mark. This includes powers that would normally make the target invincible or intangible.

Hitting brutes, breakers and changers does not actually disable their power, instead simply not giving their usual benefits against solely Riposte's attacks.

This can be used to attack and nullify power based attacks such as cutting a thrown fireball out of the air to scatter it. Attacks that are a constant such as beams or sprays can be affected, but are not stopped from being used. (So a fire blaster's flamethrower would be scattered, but would only do so where it impacts the weapon and would not be stopped from throwing more fire.)

Backstory

Elena's life had been... an odd one. Especially after she found out that her SO had been a local villain. A rather notorious one with that. And with him knowing that she knew, he suddenly got a lot more controlling.

Everywhere she went, she could see his minions watching her. In one way it was safer for her. On the other, he was very jealous, becoming abusive whenever she did something that he misread and thought was her cheating on him or similar.

Still, she did love the guy, even if she knew at some level that this wouldn't end well. That all of this wouldn't hold up in the end.

And then she suddenly had the police at the door, being pushed to the ground and cuffed before being dragged along to the police department. Elena had rarely been so scared of anything.

And then she saw him. Her SO in costume being put into a cell as well. Their town didn't have a PRT department, so he was being kept there until they could take him in.

Something snapped in her then. It had been his fault. After everything, she was going to be charged as an accomplice. The door of her cell falls apart spontaneously as she rushes and jumps him, rage still clouding her mind as they pulled her off of him.

The next day, she told the police everything. Every secret she knew. Fucking him over the hardest she could with secrets she hadn't even known how she knew, her love having been replaced by hatred. Even as she saw his minions watching on, visible only to her now.

They both knew that if he tried to charge her with assault in return, she would pull out all the abuse as well, no longer willing to just bear it. And when the PRT came? She applied immediately. Wanting as far away from her life before as possible.