Black Widow revisited

[Mark Rand]

Marvel's Black Widow has always been one of my favorites. So, she's going to form the basis for a Champions character that can be used either as a Dark Champions character or as a representative of some federal agency, possibly Homeland Security, to a superhero team. She won't be the official liaison, that person's a bureaucrat. Our web-spinning lady's a spy that could pass herself off as a cat burglar.

 

Her powers, without foci, include wall crawling, perception bonuses to touch, bonuses to DEX, acrobatics, breakfall, SPD, and running speed. She may also be able to generate some kind of bioelecrtrical or chemical stun blast.

 

I'll post her background story soon.

[pinecone]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

I've always liked her as well...I'm looking foward to robbing you shamelessly..

[Mark Rand]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

I've always liked her as well...I'm looking foward to robbing you shamelessly..

 

Go ahead. That's what it's here for.

 

Keep in mind that she's not Marvel's Black Widow. All they have in common are red hair, extensive training in spy and combat skills and the fact that they're highly skilled in being sneaky.

[pinecone]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

Go ahead. That's what it's here for.

 

Keep in mind that she's not Marvel's Black Widow. All they have in common are red hair, extensive training in spy and combat skills and the fact that they're highly skilled in being sneaky.

 

Of course...making a copy of a marvel char would be..."wrong"...this is a "homage" based on ideas presented or stimulated by seeing a character...

[Mark Rand]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

Unaware that he was being watched, Arachne slipped into the mansion he had been hired, through his go-between, to steal a specific envelope from. As he pocketed it, a gas pellet exploded at his feet. He then fell to the floor.

 

A group of gas masked figures gathered around the burglar. "How long did they say he'll be out?" one asked.

 

"Between three and four hours," came the response. "Help me carry him to the van. Once he's at the safehouse, we'll have the others raid the go-between's house."

 

Once at the safehouse, Arachne was carefully put on a padded table. There, his captors removed his backpack, gear bag, jacket, and webbing before unmasking him. To their surprise, the burglar was a beautiful redheaded woman. "I know this lady," one said. "She's a supermodel and is often in the tabloids."

 

"Nevermind that," said the one that was giving the orders. "She have any gear we don't know about?"

 

"Nope," came the reply. "The team hit the go-between's house yet?"

 

"They're doing it right now," the boss replied. "We'll give the redhead her injection, place her in her cell, then wait for her to awaken."

[Mark Rand]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

"Wonderful," Arachne said to herself as she woke up. "Great. I'm unmasked, in a cell, and my gear is missing." Noting that she skill had her black leather catsuit, combat boots, gloves, and jacket on, she added, "At least they let me keep my clothes."

 

"Good morning," came a pleasant voice from an overhead speaker.

 

"If you say so," the redhead said. "What do you want?"

 

"You, of course," came the reply. "We want you to steal exclusively for us for the next four years."

 

"My go-between won't like that," she said

 

"Don't worry about him. Worry about yourself instead."

 

"He'll come for me," the redhead said. "After all, he doesn't want to loose his best cat burglar."

 

"While you were asleep, we arranged for the FBI to arrest him."

 

"You're federal agents," she said. "Entrapment is illegal."

 

"So is burglary," came the reply. "We're with the CIA. If you agree to work for us, you'll be well paid and have a life full of excitment. We'll also throw in a penthouse apartment, a housekeeper, and plenty of high-tech toys."

 

"If I stray?" she asked with a smirk.

 

"The homing transmitter we injected into your upper left arm will let us know if that happens. If you do, we'll kill off your real identity, try you for treason as a Jane Doe, and have you in the deepest hole we can find before you know what hit you."

 

"I see."

 

"If you agree, we'll give you a new code name. We don't want Arachne associated with the CIA."

 

"You have yourself a cat burglar," Denise Dumont said.

 

"Your code name will be Black Widow."

 

TBC

[NightStick]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

Very interesting beginning.........

[Mark Rand]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

Very interesting beginning.........

 

Thank you. More to come this evening.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

"Fine," Denise said.

 

Two days later, she was in her Washington, D.C. penthouse, watching the evening news on television. "Anything interesting, Miss Dumont?" Judy Carter, her housekeeper, asked. Although a fellow agent, and Denise's watchdog, Judy played the part of a maid perfectly.

 

"The usual," Denise replied. "The world is still going nuts. Do you know something that I don't?"

 

"Probably," Judy replied, adjusting the skirt of her black, white-trimmed Dinner Belle uniform as she sat. "Besides the big intelligence agencies, there are a number of smaller ones. One in particular is of interest to us. Although it's main purpose is to serve as a watchdog for top secret militaty projects, it has a rogue group that tha agency refuses to do anything about. These rogue agents, who have no scruples, are often out in the field doing intelligence work, we think, for some of the major corporations."

 

"What do I do if I encounter them?" Denise asked.

 

"If they annoy you while committing a burglary, handle them like you'd handle a victim, but leave them armed and trip the alarm on the way out. The police can deal with them and the public's reaction will deal with them and any crooked politicians they have on their payroll."

 

"No problem, Judy," Denise laughed. "I've always caused trouble for people who interrupt me."

 

"That's good to hear, Miss Dumont," Judy said. "Dinner's ready."

 

"Let's eat."

 

(A/N: The Dinner Bell is a three-quarter sleeve uniform worn by maids and waitresses and is the one most often worn by maids on television and in the movies.)

[Mark Rand]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

The organization Judy mentions in the above is the NID from Stargate SG-1. This doesn't mean that I'm bringing the Stargate Project into the campaign, just the NID. I like them because they're a cool corrupt agency.

[freakboy6117]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

thought you might be interested in this image I foundthe other day.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

For the next three and one half years, Denise performed flawlessly. During that time, she had two run-ins with NID agents. Both times they ended up in police custody and the CIA received what she had been sent for. Both times Robert Kinsey, an arrogant right-wing senator, denounced the arrests, demanded the release of the men, and insisted that the CIA tell Congress, in public, how it had obtained what it did. He was ignored.

 

The first run-in had occurred while two NID agents were following her intended target. She simply shoot them with sleep darts, tossed them through a store window, and ran. The NID guys did the rest, by shooting at the arriving Berlin Police.

 

The second time was in Paris. She caught a man outside a target. After darting him, she checked his pockets, found his NID ID, and trussed him up. Slipping the lock, she found three more, beating up a man that had been tied to a chair. After giving the men enough time to convict themselves, she darted them, tied them up, and stole what she had come for. She then dropped a few things on the NID guys, as well as one of her old Arachne calling cards, tripped the alarm, and left.

 

Kinesy was livid and lashed out at the French authorities and the burglar. He bacame even more livid when an explosion rocked his car, with him in it. An investigation showed that M-80s had been dropped in the mufflers and catalytic converters.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

One night, when the four years were almost up, Denise was prowling a manor house in France when she was struck from behind and fell to the floor. When she awakened, she was in her underwear and strapped, spread-eagle, to a metal table. Looking around, she spotted the colonel that was the head of the NID, two of his people, a tall man in a lab coat and two other people.

 

"Your information was right," the man in the lab coat said. "Black Widow did come tonight." Moving around, he pointed to her athletic form and said, "She's in excellent shape."

 

"Thanks for the compliment," Denise said. "However, I'm Arachne, a cat burglar, not Black Widow."

 

"That's not what my sources in the CIA tell me, Miss Dumont." Seeing her look, the colonel said, "I recently learned of your identity and the fact that you were coming to France. It was fairly easy to plant information that would send you here."

 

"I'm Arachne," Denise growled. "Once I'm free, I'll break all of you, grab my gear, steal your data, and give it to the CIA. They'll arrest, or kill, your people and make the world safer for everyone."

 

"My dear Ms. Dumont," the man in the lab coat said. "I'm about to inject you with a retroviris made from several spiders. If you live, we'll program you to obey the people we want you to. If not, we'll cremate you and dump the ashes in the garden. I think the roses could use some help. They're beautiful flowers and you're a beautiful redhead."

[Mark Rand]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

(A/N: Being a cat burglar turned spy, Denise does not have CVK. However, she won't kill unless some other crook is trying to kill her or someone she's protecting.)

 

Denise growled, then cursed when the guy in the lab coat injected her. She then convulsed, then curled up, as best as she could, into a ball. "That shouldn't have happened," the scientist said. "Release her restraints and help me straighten her. Then, I'll see what happened."

 

Once she was where she wanted to be, Denise, who had been playing possum, kicked the scientist in the stomach, hard, with both feet. In order to grab what they needed to restrain Denise, the two holding her let go of her arms.

 

Once her arms were free, Denise executed a move that would make most Olympic gymnasts green with envy and slamed the jaw of one of the scientist's henchmen to the table, shattering it. As the thug dropped to the floor, the NID colonel yelled, "Capture that woman and restrain her."

 

Denise dropped the scientist's other thug with a kidney punch, then charged the NID agents. She caught the first while he was still drawing his gun and broke his arm before pushing him into his partner, who fired twice, hitting his partner twice, killing him. The ripped the second NID agent's gun arm out of it's socket before hurtling him into the colonel. They collided and slammed into some electrical instruments, which exploded.

 

TBC

[graiae66]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

Good so far, looking forward to seeing more!

 

Dee

[Mark Rand]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

With nobody left to pummel, Denise decided to search the lab and find both her gear and information about what had happened to her. She found her stuff first. After getting herself back together, she was about to continue her search when the thug she'd punched in the kidneys stirred.

 

She grabbed him, climbed onto the table, held him high, and asked, "Where is the information on your boss's research?"

 

"I-I-In his safe," the man stammered. "Please don't kill me.

 

"I might not," Denise growled. "Where is the safe?"

 

"In his study," he replied, his eyes bulging. "I don't know the combination or what the security system there is like."

 

"Are the files on what he did to me there?" she asked.

 

"They're here," the scientist replied, before drawing a gun. Denise threw the thug at him and jumped clear. The somewhat wobbly scientist fired once, blowing his thug's head apart. He then hit a switch on the wall. "In five minutes, this whole place will blow up," he said.

 

"Too bad you won't be alive to see it from outside," Denise said as she clung, like a spider, to the ceiling.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

The scientist cursed her and started shooting. "You hit the breaker box," Denise said as the lights went out.

 

After the pistol clicked several times, Denise, who now could see in the dark, dropped to the floor and kicked the scientist between his legs. There was a crunch and he screamed. Denise grabbed what she could and left. Denise was back at her car when the place exploded.

 

After returing home, she briefed Judy and her contact on the trip and new abilities and delivering the information, Denise asked, "What do we do now?"

 

"I'll discuss these with the Director," the contact replied.

 

"Kinsey will, no doubt, comment on the incident," Judy said.

 

"Leave him to us," the contact said.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

Kinsey, who, aparently, knew what had happened to the NID colonel, was enraged. To the surprise of everyone, he stood up on the senate floor and told everyone what his CIA contact had told him. He then demanded that Congress investigate this matter and turn all intelligence work over to the NID.

 

President George W. Bush said that he'd think about it.

 

The National Security Advisor, John Patrick Ryan, PhD., stated that the NID was formed to monitor top-secret military projects only and that they're being involved in anything else was illegal. He added that the NID has never been able to stop they're so called rogue agents and that he suspected that they really weren't any.

 

This angered Kinsey, who called Ryan a traitor to the United States. Ryan, in turn, called Kinsey a pompus fool who was nothing more than a puppet of the NID.

[graiae66]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

Aha, I like the Ryan connection! Amazing what history professors can do sometimes...;0

[Mark Rand]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

Aha' date=' I like the Ryan connection! Amazing what history professors can do sometimes...;0[/quote']

 

Thank you.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

(A/N: Game information is in ().)

 

Denise was tested, in secret, by the CIA.

 

Her strength increased slightly (from 14 to 17). Her dexterity increased a great deal (DEX 14 to 28, SPD 3 to 4).

 

She could, even with her leather gloves on, cling to most surfaces (20 STR clinging).

 

She could sense things around her in the dark (spatial awareness) and her sense of touch is somewhat more sensative (+2 levels of preception with touch only).

 

As the tests ended, a man came in yelling, "NID, you're all under arrest for murder." Denise slowly raised her hands. Once they were at shoulder level, a bolt of electricity lept from her fingers to the NID agent. When the agent was checked, it was found that he was still alive. It took him a good while to return (6D6, at least, stun only energy blast).

 

The next day, reporters were informed that an NID agent had been shot while attempting to break into CIA headquarters and his body had been cremated. Kinsey was livid, as was the NID's deputy director. At Jack Ryan's suggestion, President Bush ordered the NID to stand down or else.

 

Moments after that, Vice President Dick Cheney collapsed while giving a speach. He was taken to the George Washington University Medical Center and pronounced dead of a massive heart attack.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

All I will say is INTRESTING, I like it.

[Ephelides]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

If they were surprised Arachne is a woman, I guess the CIA dudes need to study mythology more. :lol:

[Mark Rand]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

If they were surprised Arachne is a woman' date=' I guess the CIA dudes need to study mythology more. :lol:[/quote']

 

True.

 

Of course, they may've known that the classical Arachne was a woman and either didn't expect the modern one to be one or knew that she was a woman, but didn't expect her to be a beautiful redhead.

 

I do, however, have a habit of referring to all masked intruders as men until it's time to reveal the truth.

 

Oh, casting call for Denise Dumont, aka Arachne, aka Black Widow...Kari Byron of MythBusters.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Black Widow revisited

 

Since the campaign world the Black Widow is in is a fusion of several, we'll take a look at various agencies, both good and bad.

 

First, two bad groups.

 

DEMON is controlled by three demons that are known as The Wolf, The Ram, and The Hart. Yes, there three are the same ones that are the senior partners of Wolfram & Hart. The slaying of their high ranking Earthly agents, the Circle of the Black Thorn, by Angel and his associates, brought the war between supernatural good and evil into the light.

 

VIPER is an international criminal organization that's run like a multinational coorporation. It hides it's activities behind a number of fronts, some of which provide it with equipmentand supplies. Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and his family lead the organization.

 

Now, four good groups.

 

The Commission on Superhuman Affairs, headed by Dr. Valerie Cooper, is the government's superhero sanctioning agency. It also serves as a clearinghouse for federal superhero information. A superhero team's official federal liaison is an employee of the commission. However, since not all agencies trust them, agencies will sometimes assign an unofficial liaison, who, technically, has very little status.

 

SHIELD is this universe's version of PRIMUS, and is organized the same way. The agency has an official uniform (the black and white one from the comic) which can easily be worn under armor. Although many civilian employees lothe it, current Executive Director Maria Hill, a former FBI Special Agent, always wears it. (Former SHIELD Executive Director Nick Fury now works for the Justice Department.)

 

UNTIL is a United Nations agency. Unlike the CU one, this is organized like UNIT from Dr. Who.

 

The Watchers Council, located on the outskirts of Las Vagas, Nevada,, is an organization devoted to fighting evil undead creatures. The Jenny Calander School for Girls serves as the agency's training center. It stayed secret until the leaders of DEMON attacked Angel and his associates in LA in 2004. While the agency leaders are known to the public, many of the fighters, or Slayers, are unknown. They like it that way,