Appearance:
(Made with the help of HeroMachine and Adobe Photoshop)

Name: Naomi Wright

Alias: Bast

Age: 19

Sponsor: Black Canary / Dinah Lance

Personality: Cunning, Strong-willed, Sarcastic

Powers/Abilities/Equipment:

• Costume: Bast's catsuit is made up of a combination of latex, leather, kevlar, and steel. The kevlar and leather bodice functions as a bulletproof vest. The latex is somewhat ventilated, allowing her skin to breathe, so that she doesn't overexert herself too quickly. The metal gauntlets emit concentrated plasma from their fingertips, which generate a scorching electrical heat. The sole of her boots emit zero-point energy, and constantly keep the user propelled a quarter inch off the ground. This way, their wearer is able to move around completely silent, as well as dive from ridiculously tall buildings without having to worry about suffering the consequences of the fall.


• Uncanny Athleticism: Naomi is an extremely gifted athlete. It could be argued that her acrobatic prowess is even somewhat superhuman. Due to her exceptional speed and reflexes, she has even been able to keep up a fight with Black Canary while dodging Huntress' arrows. In regards to her strength, she is able to bench press twice her weight (270 lbs).


• Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced): An excellent street fighter from her time spent growing up in Gotham, and a skilled martial artist due to having trained under some of the League's most notable female members. When all else fails, she isn't afraid to fight dirty.


• Voice Mimicry: Naomi is a talented mimic. Specifically, she can mimic the voices of other people with very little to no effort at all.

Weaknesses: Aside from being human physically, Naomi is also susceptible to human emotions. Because of this, she finds herself shying away from intimate relationships, fearing that she may let the wrong one in, and that she and/or an innocent may be harmed because of her carelessness.

Bio: Naomi Wright was born in Gotham to a loving mother, Natalie, and father, Nathan. Nathan, or 'No-Nonsense Nate' as he was called back in his heyday, was a former heavyweight boxer. After he retired, he had the dream of having a son and teaching him the ropes in hopes that his own legacy would be carried on, so you could imagine his disappointment after having a girl. Still, he treated Naomi like the son he never had. When Naomi reached the age of five and came home from school with a bruise on her arm, the only words of wisdom she received from her father were "suck it up". From that day on, he began to teach her how to use her fists to defend herself, much to Natalie's disapproval.

Four years later, at the age of nine, Naomi took an interest in gymnastics. Natalie enrolled her, hoping that her husband would ease up on their only child. Nathan had no such intention. In fact, he began training her even harder. Naomi was only thirteen years of age when she ruined her first punching bag. With her mother pushing her to succeed and exceed academic expectations, she'd graduated elementary school a year early. Though her social life suffered, she did manage to make a friend or two.

At the age of fourteen, in her sophomore year of high school, life changed dramatically. Nathan became a drunkard, an abusive one. Naomi would sit up nights while he and Natalie argued and fought. One night, it just became unbearable. Naomi came home from gymnastics practice to find her father trying to force himself onto her mother, attempting rape. Naomi, enraged, took two unopened bottles of beer and smashed them against the back of her father's head, rendering him unconscious and hospitalizing him. The courts went easy on the teen, dismissing her case as an 'act of self-defense'. Natalie got a divorce along with a restraining order. Naomi never saw her father again.

That same year, Naomi's mother was killed in a car accident. The courts determined that Naomi's grandmother, Georgia, was a suitable caretaker. Naomi was transferred to Gotham's slum area, where every little bit of violence took place, to live with her. Georgia was a working woman, who constantly struggled and worked her fingers down to the bone in order to provide for both her granddaughter and herself. Naomi tried to help her out by doing what little she could at the age of fourteen. But it wasn't enough. Rent was high and the two were barely getting by. Naomi became desperate, so desperate that she turned to life as a petty criminal in order to survive.

She had the misfortune of running into the Joker Gang. And by 'running into', she actually tracked them down and sought out their allegiance. Initiation was easy enough. All she had to do was defeat one of their members. To prove herself, she opted to fight one of the men, and was given an opponent over twice her age, some musclebound freak by the name of Bozo. It was a fairly easy fight after she'd taken out his knees. With her triumph, admission was granted, and soon she began bringing home enough cash to get both her and Georgia by. This didn't last long. Once Georgia found out that her only grandchild had been a moonlighting criminal, she gave her two options: quit or be turned in to the cops. "Crime doesn't pay," Georgia would say. "You will lose more than you'll ever gain!" She was right. When the Joker Gang caught word of Naomi's departure, they decided to pay her a little visit. When they found only Georgia at home, sound asleep, they made use of what they had. Georgia was murdered in her sleep, suffocated. Naomi came home from gymnastics class to find an ambulance vehicle and several cop cars surrounding the apartment.

With the guilt of her grandmother's death weighing down on her shoulders and rage flowing through her veins, Naomi began tracking down members of the Joker Gang. She couldn't take them all on by herself, but if she found one or two members unaware, she could serve up her own bit of justice as an act of atonement for past decisions. She wouldn't bother with wearing a costume to carry out this task. She wanted them to know who she was. One night, while prowling on Joker territory, she came across two of the gang members, both men, harassing a middle-aged woman. She successfully managed to sneak up on them and attacked, breaking a few bones and saving a life in the process. It turned out, however, that the woman didn't need saving, for she was none other than Selina Kyle, the infamous Catwoman. Had Naomi not shown up, she would have been just fine, but Selina admired the young girl's guts enough to invite her over for a cup of cocoa.

That night, Naomi told Ms. Kyle of her story. It was a tragic one, one that managed to touch the former cat burglar's heart. She knew what it meant to have parents that were perfectionists, to live life from inside of a cage, and to feel as though you were absolutely helpless to do anything about it. Naomi, however, was already well on her way to achieving freedom. All she needed was a push. So, for the next five years, Selina spent her sweet time providing that push. The teen would still attend high school, but dropped out of gymnastics class in order to have Ms. Kyle take the role of her mentor. When Naomi had learned all of Selina's old tricks, she still hungered for more knowledge. What she was really craving, however, was discipline, and so Selina called up two old "friends" in order to teach her rising pupil that discipline, Black Canary and Huntress of the Justice League. Getting their attention was as simple as staging a false robbery.

Huntress would be responsible for carrying out most of Naomi's combat training, while Canary worked diligently as the girl's counselor. Through Canary's counseling, Naomi was able to look past her guilt and hatred of herself. She voiced her thoughts about wanting to become a member of the Justice League. To the surprise of both Canary and Huntress, this decision brought a smile to Selina's face. Both ladies of the League approved, but one final test was to be had. Naomi would have to succeed in a two-on-one battle against both Dinah and Veronica. Taking Naomi's rigorous training into account, neither of them held back. The fight seemed to last for well over a half-hour. By the end, Naomi still landed enough blows and reserved enough stamina to tire out her opponents and be declared the winner. The rest, as they say, is history.


Notes:

• Naomi's alias, Bast, is derived from ancient Egyptian mythology. Bast, also known as Bastet, was the ancient Egyptian Goddess of Protection and Cats. It was a name handpicked by Selina Kyle.


• The only featured tech on Bast's costume, the steel gauntlets and boots, were crafted by Cyborg. The blueprints provided for the zero-point energy and plasma technology were... ahem... "borrowed" from LexCorp.


• Naomi, like Selina Kyle, has an affinity for cats. She has an Egyptian Mao by the name of Luna, and the two seem to share a sort of empathic relationship.