[H3]HORRID'S BASTARD GALLERY[/H3]
[hider=Clementine Mercer]
[b]Name:[/b] Clementine Mercer.
[b]Alias(s):[/b] Miss Silk. (Performance Name). No current super alias.
[b]Age:[/b] 27.
[b]Affiliations:[/b] Freelancer.
[b]Factions:[/b] Independant/Civilians.
[b]Description:[/b] Clementine stands at 5'1", her growth stunted by her sickness earlier in life. Her skin is smooth and pale, almost devoid of colour but also devoid of blemishes. She weighs 62kg and overall is a rather well-shaped young woman, with an slight hourglass shape to her figure. Her hair was straw blonde once, like her father's, but it's colour has faded over her years spent inside and in medical care. She now sports straight platinum hair, falling all the way down to the small of her back. Clementine's face is slightly angular and slightly gaunt, but she has looked worse. With her button nose, full lips, tired blue eyes and a little bit of makeup, she can turn herself into quite the presentable showgirl. 

When out and about, her attire is rather standard for a young woman. Dresses, skirts or jeans with sweaters or large jackets. She seems partial to boots and high-top sneakers. But when she's on stage, she takes inspiration from figures like Jessica Lake, Vikki Dougan and even Jessica Rabbit. Backless dresses, slit dresses and other tight-fitting little numbers of all sorts made of sparkling or shiny material. Reds, blues, blacks, whites and every other colour under the sun. 

When 'Silver' is able to manifest, it appears as a skintight suit of living metal, decorated with bulbs of blue that look similar to insectoid compound eyes. Her face becomes featureless like a ski-mask, and her eyes are covered by a visor of that same blue. 

[b]Powers:[/b]
Project Anastasios - "Silver" - High-Tech Symbiotic Exoskeleton
Within Clementine is a second organism, a symbiotic organism. A fusion of technology and biological matter. It is sentient, but not sapient. Not intelligent enough to reason or think for itself, so it delegates that to Clementine. It appears usually when she bleeds, as an animated mass of bubbling mercury-like liquid dotted with bulbs of blue, like eyes.

The presence of such an organism within her body has enhanced Clementine's physical attributes to a point. Currently she is only mildly better than a normal human, able to open tricky pickle jars and run fast enough to  catch the bus on a good day.

Her first ability (relatively undiscovered to her), is the ability to consume many things to then be re-purposed by the symbiote. Be it raw meat, normal food, dirt or metal. If she can have the time to absorb it, she might be able to use it. The key is that this requires time, depending on the size of the object in question. Time spent devouring increases exponentially as soon as the object cannot fit inside her mouth. This ability seems to have strange interactions with other technological constructs, if the symbiote attempts to remember the object devoured and replicate it. As a side effect, she can physically eat almost anything. 

Her survivalist strength lies in the symbiote's ability to rebuild new tissue for Clementine's body. Wounds can be regenerated in minutes or hours, depending on severity, but she must find a place to hole up and stay still as well as needing to have eaten enough to produce the biomass necessary to regenerate. It may require a good night's sleep, or even a few days worth of sleep in a row before she is back in functioning form.

A final ability, that she has not even witnessed yet, is the ability for the symbiote to manifest upon her skin like an additional dermis layer. Currently having 'Silver' deployed equates to wearing a full-body stab vest. Only able to stop certain things like small shrapnel pieces and maybe a knife. Once she has consumed enough matter, maybe it might be possible to form something of a protective shell or a suit of armor. How the symbiote utilizes the objects she has devoured then could be either beneficial or detrimental. Replication and utilization is both a tiring act and requires that the object be devoured beforehand at some point.

[b]Skills:[/b] Fantastic singer and general vocal performer, incredible willpower.
[b]Equipment:[/b] A studio apartment, a beat-up Mini Cooper and a whole lot of expensive clothing.
[b]Ranking:[/b] Currently D Rank. Potential to grow.

[b]Brief History:[/b] When Clementine was born, she was a sickly thing. Born with a then-unexplained autoimmune disease, Clementine was birthed and then shortly abandoned by her mother, to be raised by her father, Augustus Mercer. Augustus was the head of a small private medical research facility, trying to concoct the next big breakthrough in modern medicine. He was a troubled man caught up in his work and his research and over the years as Clementine has grown, he has tried his best to be a father, but with his work occupying him all hours of the day, this was difficult.

As Clementine's life went into her finishing elementary school, her health began to decline. She became familiar with the staff of her local hospital, as visits to the facility were not an uncommon occurrence. Visits became more frequent when she entered her freshman year of high school, with multiple overnight stays impacting both her grades and her emotional wellbeing. During this time, her father became increasingly frantic and afraid. This strengthened his resolve to finish his group's research, that had been culminating over the years before Clementine's birth.

Project Anastasios. The result of years of research on the non-senescence and morphallaxical ability of the Hydra organism. The goal was to be able to create a sort of living medicine. An organism capable of engaging in a symbiotic relationship with a sick host, and improve the host's health through the biological advantage taken from the 'immortal' Hydra organisms. On paper, the idea worked like a dream. But when cleared for, and tested on live subjects, the results observed were... less than ideal. Live test subject would expire shortly after being introduced to the Anastasios organism, autopsies revealing that the introduction of foreign tissue lead to the body attacking itself.

Test upon test, failure upon failure. Augustus grew madder and madder as Clementine's health declined, wasting her away to almost nothing. It was on that hospital bed, where Clementine laid wrapped in sheets and hooked up to all manner of machines, that her father admitted his fault. His failure to be the parent she needed. He told her that his work had been for her, but he had failed her. She regarded his apology, but did not respond. The sickness had weakened her to the point that she could no longer resent him. She was so tired. So very tired.

Then he brought that canister from beneath his clothing. That black container, filled with the strange silver liquid. He rambled that he'd make her all better, that he'd take care of her just like he should have, but she was already fading. All she heard was the sound of the canister hissing as it opened, and the liquid rolled out. As if it wanted to get out.

She woke the next day, feeling the coldest she had ever felt. Ever since then her health has improved drastically. Stronger, faster, more awake, more aware. More alive. That was a while ago. A long while ago. Since then she's finished her schooling, taken up and finished singing lessons. Now she entertains in smoky bars and jazz clubs. Her relationship with her father has suffered but it hasn't fazed her too badly. She's been getting stronger and living easier lately. Almost as if something within her was pushing her forward, keeping her moving. She just wants to sing, to entertain, maybe even become a star, but lately she's been finding herself getting closer and closer to the things that happen in the backalleys and dark places. The dealing and agreements that go on in the dead of night. 
[/hider]