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January 10, 2017 Bedlam City Hall Downtown It was one of those too-bright January days when the sun is shining down from a clear blue sky that makes it look downright inviting outside, - until you step out into the teeth of an Upper Midwest winter. Snow was piled everywhere, thick and dirty, as usual in Bedlam at this time of year. The meteor hit with a flash of light and roar of noise, striking the decaying pavement directly in front of Bedlam's equally-mouldering City Hall. The few squatters living in the building, and the odd passerby on their way to the County Courthouse down the block, recovered from the impact and blinding light with difficulty, rubbing their eyes and blinking as the glow at the center of the crater faded. Inside was a man - no, not a man at all! Standing inside the crater was a hulking figure in bizarrely-colored robes like something from a lurid Egyptian-set melodrama - but the thing inside was no actor. Towering some nine feet in height, its scaly reptilian skin, narrow head, and long, wicked-looking fangs suggested not a man at all but some sort of horrible;..Serpent-Man! Hefting high a glowing staff that crackled with unspeakable eldritch power, the snake-man hissed "At lassst! I have essscaped the bonds of Ra'ssss infernal prissson!" The snake-man gestured with his staff and serpents began to wriggle their way impossibly out of the cracked winter pavement at his feet. "Behold, brief mortalsss! The Scion of Set hasss returned to rule the landsss of men!" Then a laugh sounded, not far above his head - and seemingly from out of the sun itself, emerged a new figure - her face hidden by a hawk-faced mask, her head covered in a Pharonic crown, her body wrapped in gold and linen like an Egyptian queen out of legend, she clutched in her hand the glowing ankh of Horus! (To her recollection, the Sunhawk had never actually visited "the mistake by the lake") She laughed again, her thick golden ringlets shaking with mirth. Of the snake man and his serpent minions, some of whom were growing to humanoid size and shape, she showed no fear at all. "Fool! Set is as barren as the desert sands! Thou are but a craven ill-breeding lewdster - a castoff of Apep who apes the Serpent as a lapdog apes Anubis!" Ugh. Handle this one thyself, 'Horus', I will return when yon idol of idiot-worshippers begone. Okay, fine! i was trying to do you a favor! The Scion of Set's eyes boggled at first - but then narrowed with serpentine cunning, and no little godly rage. "You...how dare you! Your mockery will be your death warrant! False Sunhawk, come low and be tested!" The Scion fired a beam of green energy from his staff at Horus, only to find her far fleeter than he expected. "Thy tongue outvenoms the Nile - but thy aim is that of a child! Come and face the Sunhawk in battle, then!" And then Horus flew down and struck the Scion across the body with her glowing ankh - and the battle was on!

Justicar Power Level: 7 (106/108PP) Trade-Offs: -1 Attack/+1 Damage, -1 Defense/+1 Toughness Unspent Power Points: 2 In Brief: A disillusioned law student with low-level psionic powers, seeking justice on the streets instead of in the courts. Catchphrase: "Liar." Residence: Wolverton Alternate Identity: Lena Alexandra Lexington Identity: Secret Birthplace: Bedlam City, Wisconsin Occupation: Law student Affiliations: Good News Thunderous Hammer Church of God in Christ Family: Alice Lexington (mother), Luthor Lexington (brother) Description: Age: 27 (May, 1989) Gender: Female Ethnicity: African-American Height: 5' 9" Weight: 145 lb Eyes: Brown Hair: Black Lena Lexington is a tall, striking woman in her mid-twenties, with dark eyes and long black hair that she wears in thinly corded dreadlocks. Visibly fit and athletic, she moves with unspoken, almost unconscious confidence. She dresses neatly (if informally) in sweatshirts, T-shirts, and jeans, with a few piercings in her right ear and a small tattoo of a set of scales on the side of her neck. Her face is typically focused and carefully implacable - until she dons the mask, at which point she can be prone to sudden outbursts of strong emotion. Whenever she's "on the job" with her brother Luthor, she wears a white hooded sweatshirt with another set of black scales emblazoned prominently on the back. She tops this off with jeans, gloves, and heavy-duty combat boots. Her identity is concealed by a black mask wrapped tightly around her face. Power Descriptions: Lena possesses the psionic ability to enhance herself with a sort of personal telekinetic field. It protects her body from harm, allows her to hurl herself prodigious distances, and makes it possible for her to lift objects many times heavier than herself, in what appears to observers to be displays of superhuman strength or durability. When she uses these abilities, faint wisps of red energy flicker off her body, and the pupils of her eyes glow red from within. History: Lena Lexington always had good instincts. Born into poverty in Wolverton, to a negligent mother and an uncaring city, there was never a time where young Lena wasn't relying on her older brother Luthor for protection. Bedlam City was a rough place for two children to grow up - it seemed as if there was forever someone out to hurt you. Whether they were a robber, a scammer, a crooked cop, or just a cruel-minded gang of hoodlums come down from Stark Hill for a bit of "sport," Lena learned quickly that if she didn't stay forever on her guard, bad things would happen. Luthor meant well, but he frequently let his temper overcome his judgement, and whatever the case, he couldn't always be there. Fortunately for young Lena, nearly everyone's unsavory designs involved lying to her at some point. And if there was one thing she had a gift for, it was seeing straight through someone, even as they lied through their teeth. No matter how skilled the deceiver or how tempting the promise, whether the lie be big or small, it seemed as if Lena simply could not be fooled - which made both her and her brother far more difficult targets for anyone who meant them harm. Unfortunately, her uncanny instincts were not entirely without drawbacks. Everyone lies, and the fact that Lena was never fooled by a single one could cause friction between her and her peers - especially since she had a tendency to call out said lies with little in the way of discretion. This earned her a reputation for being self-righteous, which led to her being largely ostracized by those who would prefer their everyday white lies remain undetected. Beyond this, Bedlam is a city that runs on lies. Politicians, police officers, public officials...everyone makes promises, no one means them. A crusading attorney might claim devotion to justice, while at the same time lining their pockets with illicit bribes. A panhandler might beg for money to feed their children - but all they really wanted was another fix. Cops swear that a certain suspect "resisted arrest," but Lena always knew better - all the suspect really did was look at a cop the wrong way, or sometimes just be the wrong color. Everyone knew about the lies, but most chose to ignore them, preferring willful ignorance. Lena had no such option. She perceived each and every lie for exactly what it was, and the picture it painted of the city disgusted her. This fostered in her a yearning desire to fix things. There was good in the city, she believed. It just needed someone to bring it out. Always a good student, as Lena entered high school, she turned her interests towards the potential study of law. If someone could enter the legal system and fix it from the inside, then that would be the first step towards making Bedlam a better place. Her studies progressed well, and quickly. She made it into law school, and it seemed as if her life was finally on the right track. Unfortunately, one aspect of her life that had suffered from her increased devotion was her relationship with her brother, Luthor. He felt that she thought she was too good for him now - she felt that he was content to do nothing but jack cars with his gang, with no ambition towards creating a life for himself or bettering the city. A rift of mutual resentment began to grow between them. A rift that only grew wider when he got picked up for grand theft auto. At first, Lena was disgusted. He had brought it on himself, after all, hadn't he? But as she went through the obligatory motions of asking questions and arranging the legal matters, she discovered a troubling thing: they were lying. The cops were lying about what he did, the legal system was lying about their intentions to see him given a fair trial. They wouldn't even let her see him, and everyone was lying about why. That was when she began to truly worry. The cops pinning a load of extra offenses to someone's sheet was nothing new in Bedlam. But she didn't even know where her brother was, or what was happening to him. Refusing to give up on her brother, Lena pushed harder. Answers were few and hard to come by, and she had the feeling that the more she pushed, the more jeopardy she placed herself in. Relentless investigation yielded two rewards: one, that whoever had him, Luthor was going to be tranported via convoy on a certain date. And two, she was run off the road by an unknown hitman. As her assailant sped away, Lena was shocked to see that her head had done more damage to the steering wheel than the steering wheel had done to her head. Even more so when she found she could tear the car door from its hinges with little effort. No one expects to find out they have powers, but Lena wasted no time in putting her newfound "gifts" to good use. Lena now knew that she would find no help in the legal system, so she turned to the other option: the gangs. A mask, a few hastily forged connections, and a display of her powers was all it took to get an audience with one of the city's more reckless - and gullible - gang lieutenants. She told them that she had the schedule of a convoy that would be moving a massive sum of money, and that it was sure to be easy pickings, carefully sewing the story with just enough facts to disguise the lie. Eager for an opportunity to rise in the ranks, her story was bought hook, line, and sinker, and the gang attacked Luthor's prisoner transport. The gang, while heavily-armed, had been made to expect cowardly rent-a-cops, not trained and equipped agents. A fierce firefight ensued - which Lena took full advantage of, freeing Luthor amid the chaos. The two escaped together. Luthor, as it turned out, had been subjected to horrific experiments, endowing him with his own set of abilities. Disgusted by what they had seen of the city's misdeeds, they resolved to rely on the only people they could ever trust - each other - and use their newfound powers to bring harsh justice to at least a few of Bedlam's resident scum. Personality & Motivations: Lena is a woman who has become completely disillusioned with the justice system. She has abandoned any hope of ever being able to truly fix it. The best anyone can do is harness it and turn it forcefully towards their own purposes. And most of the time they'd be better off simply...circumventing it, which is the route her and her brother have chosen to take with their nightly excursions. Why wear your fingers to the bone entering the legal system, only to be shackled by corruption and forced to sit through farcical trials? Why bother calling a lazy, malicious police force when you can punch through walls? Why implement ineffective crime-reducing policies when you can just put on a mask and go reduce it yourself? Lena's relationship with her brother could be best classified as "complicated." He's her closest family member and she loves him - but a certain subconscious part of her mind can't help but bitterly resent him for derailing her life just when it seemed she was about to rise above her circumstances. She was always the hardworking one, the diligent one, and yet still she ended up getting dragged back down by his mistakes. How was that fair? At the same time, however, she knows that there's no going back from the path they've started on. She's aware that Luthor wants for her to be able to one day escape the city and realize her old ambitions, and she doesn't have the heart to dispel him of that notion, but secretly she doesn't see how she could ever fully go back to being nothing but a cog in the machine. She still pursues her legal career - albeit with far less passion than before - but purely for the sake of having another weapon in her arsenal. Deep down, she believes that she's going to die wearing the mask. Whenever that may be. Despite all this, Lena manages to maintain a slightly offbeat sense of humor about her situation. She's given to wry observations, somewhat bitter wisecracks, and occasional moments of almost childish bickering with her brother. Powers & Tactics: Lena is typically an uncomplicated fighter. The strength and durability granted by her psionic powers mean that she typically has little cause for concern when engaging ordinary street toughs, allowing her to utilize simple, brutally effective methods of combat. She refrains from using lethal force - she's not ready to cross that line yet - but she has few compunctions about breaking a few bones. Or more than a few. The power that she values the most is also her least visible one: she invariably knows when she's being lied to. She makes a point of keeping that power a secret, because you can tell a lot about a person by what they lie about. When confronted with a situation where she is outmatched, she has no false pride to prevent her from fleeing - or preferably cheating. "Pride gets you killed" is her modus operandi. While she is never one to truly give up or admit defeat, she is perfectly comfortable with letting her opponent believe they've won just long enough for her to win back the advantage. Complications: Down with the System: Lena harbors a deep and not-unjustified resentment for both the legal and law enforcement systems. She has a hard time turning down any opportunity to stick it to The Man. Dual Life: Lena makes at least a token effort to maintain her studies, but counterbalancing that life with her midnight escapades can cause complications in both. Enemy: When Lena tricked the gang into helping her free Luthor, she made a lifelong enemy out of them. They have a personal (and not entirely unjustified) grudge against her, and will surely jump at any opportunity to settle the score. Family First: For all their disagreements, Luthor is still Lena's brother. There are a great many things she would sacrifice to keep him safe. Him being a wanted man doesn't help. Secret: Bad things happen to capes who let their identities be discovered. Lena keeps hers a closely guarded secret. Struggling: Lena and her brother are usually only just scraping by when it comes to finances. Technically, I Told The Truth: It is impossible to directly lie to Lena. It is, however, still possible to trick her, if you're careful about your phrasing. Her power means she has never had to develop the ability to naturally tell when someone's not being entirely honest with her, so she tends to take what people say at face value. Abilities: 2 + 6 + 6 + 4 + 2 + 4 = 24PP Strength: 26/12 (+8/+1) Dexterity: 16 (+3) Constitution: 16 (+3) Intelligence: 14 (+2) Wisdom: 12 (+1) Charisma: 14 (+2) Combat: 8 + 8 = 16PP Initiative: +7 (+4 Improved Initiative, +3 Dex) Attack: +6 Melee, +4 Ranged Grapple: +17/+14/+7 (+6 Melee, +8/+1 Str, +3/+0 Super-Strength) Defense: +6 (+4 Base, +2 Dodge Focus), +2 flat-footed Knockback: -6 Saving Throws: 3 + 3 + 5 = 11PP Toughness: +8 (+3 Con, +5 Impervious Protection) Fortitude: +6 (+3 Base, +3 Con) Reflex: +6 (+3 Base, +3 Dex) Will: +6 (+5 Base, +1 Wis) Skills: 48R = 12PP Bluff 6 (+8) Diplomacy 3 (+5) Gather Information 8 (+10) Intimidate 8 (+10) Knowledge (civics) 3 (+5) Knowledge (current events) 3 (+5) Knowledge (streetwise) 8 (+10) Notice 4 (+5) Stealth 5 (+8) Feats: 8PP Attack Focus 2 (melee) Contacts Dodge Focus 2 Improved Initiative Takedown Attack 2 Powers: 14 + 5 + 7 + 9 = 35PP All powers have the Psychic and Telekinesis descriptors Enhanced Strength 14 (Psionic Strengthening) [14PP] Immunity 5 (interaction skills) (Living Lie Detector) [5PP] Personal Telekinetic Field 3 (6PP Array; Power Feat: Alternate Power 1) [7PP] Base Power: Super-Strength 3 (lifting STR 41; heavy load: 3 tons) (Tactile Telekinesis) {6/6PP} Alternate Power: Leaping 3 (x10; running long jump: 180 ft; standing long jump; 90 ft; high jump: 45 ft) + Speed 3 (50MPH/500 feet per move action) (Propel Self) {3+3=6/6PP} Protection 5 (Impervious 4) (Personal Forcefield) [9PP] DC Block ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC 23/16 Toughness (staged) Damage (physical) Totals: Abilities (24) + Combat (16) + Saving Throws (11) + Skills (12) + Feats (6) + Powers (35) – Drawbacks (0) = 106/108