[center][i][b]Cassie Striver; Quintain[/b][/i][/center]

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[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/t0hFCZm.jpg[/img][/center]

[b]Name:[/b]
[indent]Cassandra Striver[/indent]

[b]Nickname/Alias:[/b]
[indent]'Cass'; 'Cassie'; 'Quintain'[/indent]

[b]Gender:[/b]
[indent]Female[/indent]

[b]Age:[/b]
[indent]19[/indent]

[b]Appearance:[/b]
[indent][list]
[*][i]Height:[/i] 5'8[/*]
[*][i]Weight:[/i] 120lb[/*]
[*][i]Build:[/i] Slim[/*]
[*][i]Hair Colour:[/i] Dyed a purple/black fade; naturally brown. Wears a blonde wig cut short and messy as Quintain. [/*]
[*][i]Eye Colour:[/i] Green. Amber coloured contacts as Quintain.[/*]
[*][i]General Attire:[/i] Dark, simple clothing, often incorperating short dresses or long tops combined with shorts, leggings, jackets, and accessorizing with boots and scarves.[/*]
[*][i]Costume:[/i] Lightweight armour sleeveless vest and trousers, sprayed white, with shin-high boots, and a large coat over the top of it all, coloured white with red accents, tapering off into a long tail that curves to the side around her legs.[/*]
[/list][/indent]

[b]Metahuman Abilities:[/b]
[indent]Cassie has the ability to manipulate the flow of time around her, pushing herself into a self-dubbed 'Focus State', slowing down the world but not herself, and allowing her prescience of actions, movements, and events a few seconds into the future. 

This Focus State allows her to hit any manner of targets with extreme ease, move faster than the average person otherwise can, avoid and counter incoming strikes, and extrapolate from her prescience to predict future events - but only by minutes or hours, rather than days or weeks.

Currently, Cassie can only bring on this 'Focus State' with deep concentration, rhythmic breathing, and forcing an intense calm upon herself, upon which the state is granted for mere moments, allowing her to make the single perfect shots she currently uses her power for. [/indent]

[b]Skills and Talents:[/b]
[indent][i]Patience:[/i] As a necessity of her 'occupation', Cassie has learnt great patience, and can remain waiting, expecting, or even outlasting any number of situations and opportunities. She can keep herself for hours upon hours on end, awaiting her perfect moment.

[i]Tolerance:[/i] Naturally, Cassie has a great tolerance for the climate around her, whether emotional, mental, or meteorological. This natural tolerance has only been trained by her current 'employment', and she is able to remain in awkward positions, cold weather, or under heavy mental or emotional duress, for extended periods of time without deep wounding on any level, or any visible signs of distress or injury. 

[i]Emotional Control:[/i] As a prerequisite of her ability, Cassie has learnt to successfully exert immense control over her own emotional state, removing the risk of passion or distress to her ability to analyse her surroundings, make decisions, and function under pressure. However, she doesn't allow this to affect her personal relationships when she can - namely, not wanting to alienate her sister from her. Cassie can act normally, even wearing her heart on her sleeve - but when she needs to, she can become impassioned and completely calm.
[/indent]

[b]Equipment:[/b]
[indent]
Barret XM109 High-Powered Sniper Rifle.
Lightweight Armour Sleeveless Vest, white.
Lightweight Armour Trousers, white.
Lightweight Armour Boots, black.
Large Hooded Coat with tapering tail that curves around legs, white with red accents.
Wig, short/messy cut, white-blonde.
Coloured Contact Lenses, amber.
Cheap disposable 'burner' phone, replaced weekly, only able to receive incoming messages.

All courtesy of Roman Locke, from the Ares Corporation.
[/indent]

[b]Biography:[/b]
[indent]Cassie's childhood was subdued, at best. She had a loving mother, a working father, her younger sister - Jo - and attentive grandparents. She had medical problems, anxiety and panic attacks, but she got medication and they dulled the attacks, even if they didn't get rid of them. She went through school, suffering grade losses after her grandparents passed and eventually dropping out after high school and picking up an easy retail job to pay rent to her parents. Her sister was far more promising, anyway, Cassie was happy, and, somewhere between leaving school and getting hired, Cassie had learnt that her panic attacks - that had never gone away - weren't a result of anxiety, or imbalanced hormones, or a deformity or deficiency in the brain. They were the manifestation of a strange ability, and Cassie slowly began to recognize herself as Metahuman. And that felt good to know when Jo brought home her school reports.

Shortly after Cassie's 18th birthday, her family - mother, father, sister, and Cassie herself - were gathered in the kitchen. Not for any particular reason, she often reminisced - just one of those moments where the destinations and objectives of multiple people suddenly collide on common ground. They were chatting, and getting in each others way, and teasing, and then Cassie's father slipped and spilled the kettle he'd been holding, boiling water splashing down the length of Jo's arm. She screamed, and Cassie suddenly felt one of her attacks coming on, far more rapid than anything before. The world slowed but Cassie was in complete control of herself, and in slow-motion she watched the metal of the kettle, of the knives, of the saucepans on the hob, rattle and lift and then tear itself into pieces and fly toward Jo before flinging itself in an outward circle. She dodged the metal, moving faster than it somehow. Her parents were not so lucky. The world caught back up to speed. Blood was everywhere.

After that, the next two years of Cassie's life became very selfless. All the money she had saved, all the money her parents had left them, all the money she could get together by selling everything she could get a price for - it all went toward Jo's school fund. She'd been pulled out of her school, but Cassie had found a good boarding school for her, somewhere she wouldn't waste her smarts. But, slowly and surely, Cassie's funds dried up. First her savings, especially after she got fired for tardiness and absence. Then her inheritance, her parents not well-off in the first place. Then the money from the pawn shop. The school would have sent letters, but Cassie had no home to deliver to. Jo was pulled from the school, and Cassie sunk into despair. She couldn't keep them both alive on the streets.

And that was when she met Roman Locke. He knew the real reason behind her parent's deaths. He knew the real reason behind Cassie's early medication. He knew her ability, and he knew Jo's. He wanted both.

Locke offered Jo a home, food, and an education far surpassing anything Cassie could ever have hoped to give her with the school, and offered Cassie a home and food herself. He asked one thing of her - be his hitman. She'd been practicing her ability, and could bring on the slow-down, the now-dubbed 'Focus State', for mere moments. She knew she could make the shots he wanted her to take, and so did he.

She agreed. She acts as Quintain now, disguise and costume in place, high-powered rifle placed dutifully in her hands. She gets the target and makes the shot - and her sister stays alive for one more day.[/indent]