"Yes, if you make a pass at me again, I
will bite your head off."
MANTISAffiliations: S
OLO D10, B
UDDY D8, T
EAM D6
Distinctions: C
OLD A
S A
N I
NSECTA
LIEN I
NSTINCTSD
AMAGED S
OULPower Sets:MANTIS-POWERSE
NHANCED D
URABILITY D8, S
UPERHUMAN R
EFLEXES D10, S
UPERHUMAN S
TAMINA D10, S
UPERHUMAN S
TRENGTH D10
SFX:
Focus. If a dice pool includes a
MANTIS-POWERS power, you may replace two dice of equal size with one die +1 step larger.
SFX:
Immunity. Spend 1 PP to ignore stress, trauma or complications from poisons, disease or radiation.
SFX:
Pincer Hold. Add a D6 and step up your effect die by +1 when inflicting a
grappled complication on a target.
SFX:
Second Chance. Spend 1 PP to reroll when using a
MANTIS-POWERS power.
Limit:
Exhausted. Shutdown any
MANTIS-POWERS power and gain 1 PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.
MANTIS MOVESE
NHANCED S
ENSES D8, E
NHANCED S
PEED D8, L
EAPING D6, W
ALL-C
RAWLING D6
SFX:
Alien Senses. Spend 1 PP to add E
NHANCED S
ENSES (or step it up by +1 if already in your dice pool) and reroll all dice on a reaction.
SFX:
Blending. Add a D6 and step up your effect die when creating a
stealth asset.
SFX:
Heightened Senses. Add a D6 and step up your effect die when creating a sensory-based asset.
Limit:
Exhausted. Shutdown any
MANTIS MOVES power and gain 1 PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.
Limit:
Inhuman Urges. Step up any mental stress Mantis suffers by +1.
Specialties:A
CROBATIC M
ASTER D10, C
OMBAT R
OOKIE D6, C
OVERT R
OOKIE D6, S
CIENCE E
XPERT D8
Milestones:STEALING THE FIREYou will stop at nothing to take your revenge on Prometheus and their agents.1 XP when you uncover a new operation by Prometheus through stealth.
3 XP when you take down a new bio-engineering operation, or when Prometheus sets a trap for you with a new bio-weapon and you take physical stress.
10 XP when you take down one of Prometheus' top operatives, or when you convince one of them of the company's evils and gain a new ally.
SEARCHING FOR HUMANITYThe experiments that created you cost you everything, and now you are stuck in a world you no longer understand, trying to find the part of you that you're missing.1 XP when your alien mindset lands you in trouble with authorities or turns someone whom you wanted to befriend against you.
3 XP when you emotionally stress out a potential friend or when you successfully team up with another hero to accomplish a common goal.
10 XP when someone is stressed out of a scene defending you, or you are stressed out defending someone you realize you care about.
ID: Maya Marsden (Secret)
History:Maya was a researcher for Prometheus Engineering, a bio-engineering company and subsidiary of Kronas Corporation. She was working on the hybridization program, attempting to combine wheat with desert cactus and create a wheat that could be grown even in the desert. While working late one night, she discovered something the head of the animal hybridization program had carelessly left unhidden: Prometheus wasn't just creating new plants and specialized beasts of burden, it was attempting to master human-animal hybridization to create super-soldiers. Maya confronted her superiors with this knowledge and demanded they shut down the operation or she would go to the authorities.
She never made it out of the building before she was captured and forced into becoming one of their first major human test subjects. Maya received the human-mantid hybridization program, but something went wrong in the laboratory before the process could completely turn her into an insectile monster. Emerging human in appearance but with the cold fury of a praying mantis, Maya escaped the laboratory, driven by instinct.
When Maya returned home, she found her apartment completely ransacked, all data she had ever kept stolen, and a man named Dragonfly awaiting her. He informed her that Prometheus had blown up the lab after making sure enough of her DNA remained to verify that she had "died" in the explosion, an ill-fated attempt to sabotage the company. After a brief battle, Dragonfly defeated the disoriented Maya and dropped her into the Hudson River, leaving her for dead.
Maya would not die, however. She recovered and wandered without purpose for several months before deciding that the one thing she wanted most was revenge on Prometheus. Using her newfound powers, she struck several of their smaller facilities, something the company called "corporate terrorism" in the papers, while behind the scenes they sent out agents to find their attacker. The stories drew the attention of Spider-Man, who eventually tracked down Maya, now under the guise of Mantis, just as she had attacked a Prometheus operation. Thinking her a villain, Spider-Man sought to apprehend her and they battled on the rooftops. Mantis defeated Spider-Man, but realized he was a hero, so she left him alive and departed to continue her quest for vengeance and soul-searching.
Personality:Since the hybridization process, Maya has become cold and calculating, much like an insect. She evaluates people and situations in instinctual terms: food, threat, non-threat, and similar categories. When she feels emotion at all it is muted, and often consists of sorrow, lamenting her humanity. Prometheus took her life away, legally and in the transformation, and she is now lost and lonely, unable to fit in anywhere or start over until Prometheus is destroyed.
Abilities and Resources:The experiment that transformed her gifted Maya with a praying mantis' physical characteristics, proportionate to the human form. She has superhuman strength great enough to lift cars and rip through steel, and her stamina surpasses the finest human athlete's. Most of all, her reflexes and agility have increased to greatly superhuman levels, allowing Maya to move faster than human eyes can follow and providing her with flexibility to make the best contortionists envious. She also gained an array of superhuman senses, both in sight and hearing, giving her far greater awareness than a normal human.
With her speed came new methods of mobility: like mantids and other insects, Maya can cling to walls or even ceilings by her hands and feet. She possesses a natural aptitude for finding the best possible location to blend in and escape notice, and she can fly for short distances like a mantis. This speed and strength and overwhelming instinct combine into a fighting style that is fast and powerful, making her a match in combat even for the likes of Spider-Man.
