∟
NAME: Gladys Beaumont
∟
FIELD NAME: Echidna
∟
RANK: 18
∟
CLASS: Passive∟
GENDER: Female
∟
PHYSICAL PROFILE:Gladys has a gymnast’s figure – standing around 5’10”, with a slender frame and a graceful, measured poise in each step. She has waist-length brown hair, a tanned complexion, and deep green eyes that either gleam in compassion amongst her siblings, or glower in suspicion among her handlers and researchers. She typically favours long, billowing outfits that cover her body without clinging to her limbs, allowing said limbs to be detached and dissolved without ruining the overall aesthetic. Although not especially strong, she has developed her motor control extensively through dance and athletics routines, helping to remain nimble and coordinated despite the changing weight distribution caused by her power.
∟
PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Gladys struggles with the notion of ‘individuality.’ She views the other Children as extensions of her beloved Family, just as hands are extensions of the body, or as roots are extensions of the tree. She is immensely suspicious of the researchers and soldiers from Project:EVE, aiming to shelter her family from those who would selfishly exploit them. She cares immensely about her siblings, and sees it as her duty to nurture them all as a gardener would a rose garden. With a loving touch and regular pruning, for their own best interest.
While she is maternal and affectionate by nature, Gladys sees herself as uniquely capable of caring for her siblings, and struggles to understand why others would choose
not to make sacrifices for the good of the family. She considers missions to be worthless unless all of her siblings make it out intact, regardless who needs to walk (or be pushed) back into the fire to accomplish that.
In the field, Gladys is resourceful and calculating, always searching for shortcuts and weak points to capitalise on. Her abilities are inherently costly to use, and as such, she aims for the highest possible returns from the smallest possible investment. She probes and tests her environment, waiting for the safest opportunity, then commits ruthlessly to the final coup de grace.
∟
ABILITIES: →
BIOGENESIS: Gladys can produce Hydra-esque minions from her own biomass, selectively melting off regions of her flesh and exposing a
semi-rigid nervous system that oozes thick blood as it attempts to regenerate. The melted flesh forms a pool of rapidly-growing primordial soup, maturing into an organism controlled remotely by Gladys’ exposed nerve endings. The Grandchildren (as she affectionately calls them) can range dramatically in form and function, from hulking brutes fashioned from a muscular arm, to swarms of slithering infiltrators made from a severed tongue. Gladys can control many of her Grandchildren simultaneously, although her control and reaction time become exponentially worse as she splits her attention.
→
REGENERATION: Gladys’ healing factor is ‘pooled’ between her body and her Grandchildren, and she must choose between maintaining her Grandchildren or regrowing the melted flesh that gave birth to them. She can regrow her limbs and organs over the course of several minutes, whereas her Grandchildren can regrow an equivalent amount of flesh every second.
∟
WEAKNESSES: →
EXPOSED NERVOUS SYSTEM: Gladys requires a nervous system to control her body, whether it’s arranged in the traditional manner or has detached itself to tear through a nearby wall. Her exposed nerve endings act as antennae to communicate with her Grandchildren, and destroying those antennae renders her corresponding Grandchildren brain-dead until her nervous system regenerate.
→
PHYSICAL HANDICAPPING: As her ability requires Gladys to dissolve her own biomass, birthing powerful Grandchildren always leaves Gladys physically handicapped in some manner. While birthing a pack of Hunter-esque Grandchildren may only cost the fingers from one hand, she only has so many body parts to spare before becoming vulnerable in combat. As such, Gladys prefers using small quantities of ‘excess’ biomass to construct utility minions, reserving her limbs (and thus her hulking behemoths) for desperate situations.
→
LIMITED MULTI-TASKING: Gladys can only coordinate a limited number of Grandchildren simultaneously, as the mental processing required to control several bodies grows exponentially harder as the number of bodies increases. While she can control a large swarm of smaller Grandchildren outside of combat, if allowed to shift her focus between different bodies at her own leisure, she typically uses no more than a dozen Grandchildren in combat (corresponding to each of her fingers and a sensory organ or two). A pack of smaller Grandchildren provide more tactical options and allows each of them to be more specialized in function, whereas a pair of behemoths formed from each arm allows for more brute force and far more precise control.
Member
