Friction Melee: RV 10 Coordination: RV 20 Brawn: RV 6 Fortitude: RV 20 Intellect: RV 6 Awareness: RV 6 Willpower: RV 10 Health: 56 Fortune: 22 Lifestyle: RV 10 Repute: RV 0 Origin: Charlotte Yolanda Beck was originally a dance student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, when the White Event gifted her with paranormal powers. Unlike most of her paranormal friends, Charlotte's powers do not alter her appearance any, allowing her to pose as a 'normal' when she's not involved in any adventuring hijinks. She's taken to calling herself Friction on such occasions. Known Powers: Friction Control: Friction's sole paranormal ability is the power to control the molecular attraction between two or more objects. This allows her to make said objects either stick to each other or incredibly slippery. She can wield this power with rank value 50 ability, enough to cause a loaded bus moving at fifty-five miles per hour to suddenly screech to a dead halt. Overcoming Friction's ability requires passing an ACT roll against its power value. This is a Brawn ACT if it involves pulling free from the 'sticky' application of her power, or a Coordination ACT if one is attempting to either hang onto something she's made nigh-frictionless... or to avoid a nasty fall. The effects of her power only last as long as she concentrates on them, and work anywhere within Very Near distance (fifty yards). To date, Friction has demonstrated the following power stunts with her paranormal power: * Clinging: one power stunt Friction has repeatedly demonstrated is the ability to stick to vertical and upside down surfaces. This lets her simulate the clinging power, at her normal power value. It takes a whole lot to dislodge her from any surface once she's decided to adhere to it, making the destruction of said surface an easier proposition most of the time. * Deflection: another stunt Friction has mastered is making her own body incredibly slippery. This allows her a +4 RS on any attempt to Escape from Grappling attacks, and gives her the benefit of a -4 RS penalty to hit her with physical attacks. When objects strike her body, they simply slip off, making it very hard for any sort of physical attack (save for a raw force blast) to connect with her. Limitations / Enhancements: (none) Equipment: (none) Quirks: (none) Skills: Acrobatics: Friction has always been rather nimble and athletic. Her study of dance in college has only enhanced this further... along with special training by the CIA This skill grants her a +1 RS to any Dodge, Escape, Evade, Feint or Weave maneuver she attempts. Acrobatics also offers a similar bonus to other feats of balance, such as walking a tightrope or rolls to avoid falling. Detective / Espionage: once she was 'recruited' into the Central Intelligence Agency, Friction learned the ins and outs of being a weaponized paranormal secret agent. While she only had a few months of training, Friction nonetheless has learned a variety of surveillance and espionage techniques, and can usually dig up information on a target given enough time and effort. Martial Arts styles A and B: in addition to learning how to spy in the CIA, Friction learned how to fight! She can engage in unarmed combat quite effectively, gaining a +1 RS to hit in hand-to-hand melee combat, as well as being able inflict Pound or Concuss results on a target regardless of her comparative Brawn or Fortitude scores (which is good, as hers are relatively mundane). Contacts: Friction can readily rely upon her fellow paranormals from therapy group C in the Clinic for Paranormal Research - even Scuzz, who originally left them on hostile terms. Over time others have joined their little band, including Chrome, Mutator and Sponge. Friction has a few additional contacts from the Clinic, as well as some of her 'handlers' in the Central Intelligence Agency - though definitely not Miss Dobish. Costume: Unlike most of her friends, Friction has always been comfortable in stretch fabric outfits - but then, she's trained as a dancer for several years. She tends to favor primarily black adventuring wear, usually accented with pink here or there, whether as boots, belts or as racing stripes on the fabric of her clothes. This can vary depending on the situation however, particularly if she's trying to be inconspicuous. Personality: Charlotte was originally rather naive when her paranormal powers first surfaced - but then, she was still a teenager when that happened. She's grown up a little bit since then, despite some of her hard-earned experiences being washed away by the Clinic's mind controllers. She's ultimately accepted her place in the world and her status as a paranormal (which wasn't too hard, since she can play 'normal' most of the time). Real Name: Charlotte 'Charly' Yolanda Beck Occupation: professional dancer, former student, former CIA operative Legal Status: citizen of the United States with no known criminal record Marital Status: single Alias(es), if any: none Group Affiliation: the CIA, DP 7 (therapy group C) Height: 5' 4" Hair: black Eyes: brown Weight: 118 lbs. Other Distinguishing Characteristics: none Story: Charlotte Beck was an up and coming dance student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, when her paranormal powers surfaced - along with a staggeringly bad migraine. At first, Charlotte didn't know what was going on, as people around her kept falling and injuring themselves. It took a while, but she realized she was the only one who never slipped when this happened... leading her to believe she was somehow the cause. To this end, she answered an ad paid for by the Clinic for Paranormal Research, hoping to find a cure for her strange little 'problem'. They checked her into their facility and began to study her curious nature, determining that she had the psionic ability to control the molecular attraction between two (or more) different objects. It took her a while but she slowly gained control of this ability. Even if she did so at the expense of her free will. You see, the Clinic was brainwashing its patients to weaponize them, to transform them into a kind of world-conquering army - one that would be led by Philip Nolan Voigt. In time, one of Charlotte's fellow therapy group members at the Clinic tumbled onto this fact, and led a break-out from the facility, bringing the rest of the group with him. Though she didn't really want to, Charlotte joined this man, Randy O'Brien, and the other five members of the Clinic's therapy group c, mostly because she had something of a crush on him. This only grew more intense as the group faced a variety of perils and threats while on the run from the Clinic's minders, and was enhanced further upon her subsequent capture by said goons. After this happened, Charlotte was mindwiped a second time, but the Clinic's management was thrown out soon after, thanks to the actions of Randy O'Brien and David Landers, who were both immune to Voigt and his minions' mind altering abilities. Left to their own devices, the Clinic's paranormals went on with their lives there free of external influence, and Charlotte's attraction to Randy only grew. A few months later, Charlotte was ultimately spurned by Randy, who didn't feel he could get 'serious' with a black woman, which set her off. She joined one of the growing 'gangs' at the Clinic, the so-called Black Powers, though this didn't last. In time, Randy and Charlotte reconciled, though the sting of Randy's rejection would still haunt Charlotte for quite some time. After this, and an attempt on her life by the leader of the Black Powers, Charlotte felt the need to leave the Clinic. When Randy and company decided to go to Pittsburgh to help their friend, Jeffrey Walters, Charlotte jumped at the chance. Of course, the group was driving headlong into the aftermath of the Pitt, and while they saved Jeffrey from an untimely demise in the Pitt proper, they were captured by the Army. Though she couldn't be Drafted due to her paranormal nature, being a woman, Charlotte could nonetheless be arrested for trespassing in a martial law zone. However, the Central Intelligence Agency intervened on her behalf... in exchange for her coming to work for them. Seeing that as a better outcome than jail, Charlotte agreed... and her potential criminal record was literally erased before her eyes. Over the next months, Charlotte trained at the CIA headquarters along with several of her female friends from the Clinic: Lenore Fenzl, Stephanie Harrington and Merriam Sorensen. They were then joined by Jennifer Swensen, formerly the armored heroine known as Spitfire, who was forever changed by exposure to Pitt-Juice... and inexplicably developed organic steel skin as a result. On their first mission, Charlotte and her fellow Femme Force operatives almost died, as they found themselves face to face with the Famileech. This monstrosity, also born from a Pitt-Juice exposure, was a ravenous monster that consumed all animal matter in its vicinity, absorbing it into itself. While Charlotte barely survived, as did most of her friends, Lenore was apparently eaten by that monstrosity. Charlotte's next mission for the CIA didn't go much better. They were assigned to spy upon suddenly successful Democratic Presidential candidate Philip Nolan Voigt, who not only figured out he was being spied on, and by who, but mind controlled them into working for him. Shortly after this, primarily because he subsequently complained to the government about the situation, Charlotte and company were cut loose. Finding herself without a job but resident in New York City, Charlotte decided to pursue a dancing career - it was the right town for it, after all! While doing so, she remained with the remnants of her therapy group from the Clinic, who slowly congregated in the City, even after a few of them decided to take the paranormal Cure once it became available (after a fashion) and went their separate ways. Charlotte seems to have remained with her fellow Displaced Paranormals to this very day. Chronology: DP7 Annual # 1 (origin recounted), DP7 # 1, DP7 # 2, DP7 # 3, DP7 # 4, Untold Tales of the New Universe: DP 7, Kickers, Inc. # 5, DP7 # 5, DP7 # 6, DP7 # 7, DP7 # 8, DP7 # 9 (in a dream sequence), DP7 # 10, DP7 # 12, DP7 # 13, DP7 # 14, DP7 # 15, DP7 # 16, Justice # 16, DP7 # 17, DP7 # 18, DP7 # 19, DP7 # 20, DP7 # 21, DP7 # 23, DP7 # 24, DP7 # 26, DP7 # 27, DP7 # 28, DP7 # 29, Star Brand # 18, DP7 # 30, DP7 # 31, DP7 # 32, Quasar # 4 (variant earth version), Quasar # 31.