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[quote=Helena Bertinelli][b][color=8C73B5]“Well, I’m not the tooth fairy.”[/color][/b][/quote][/center]
[b]Character You're Applying For[/b][hr][color=gray][indent]Helena Bertinelli, otherwise known as The Huntress.[/indent][/color]
[b]Attributes[/b][hr][color=gray][indent]Helena lacks a metagene, though that has not stopped her in training and conditioning herself for a career of revenge in the guise of vigilantism. She's an expert marksman (with bow or gun) and [abbr=with half-a-dozen martial arts disciplines]hand-to-hand combatant[/abbr], a well-studied expert on psychology, an astute investigator, and an expert driver. 

When it comes to equipment, Helena has a decent arsenal due to her financial situation as the heiress of the Bertinelli family fortune and corporate holdings, her connections with Tony Angelo, and her own capacity to acquire things that are smuggled into Gotham. Her primary weapon is a battle-staff of Symkarian design, a collapsible crossbow, a collection of stolen ammunition, and a retrofitted prototype for a “utility belt” based on Harold Allnut's original design. Helena also has a preference for motorcycles in terms of transportation.[/indent][/color]
[b]Character Origins[/b][hr][color=gray][indent]Helena Bertinelli is the daughter of Franco Bertinelli and Maria Panessa, who was born into a world of infinite possibilities as well as a world of crime given her father’s role as the boss of the Bertinelli Crime Family or as it was known in the criminal underworld: the Cosa Nostra. Descended from Sicilian immigrants that set sights on Gotham City as the next “New York” in the nineteen-thirties, the family has been in operation for a lengthy amount of time and was said to be the biggest threat to Gotham’s orderly infrastructure until the appearance of what is now referred to as the “Roman Empire”. But the days of Guiseppe and Alfredo Bertinelli were long passed by the time Helena was brought up in the world as the simple state of the crime family was not second but third banana to Gotham Organized Crime. In spite of this, Franco wished Helena to have a healthy childhood. Unfortunately, we all don’t get what we wish.

Franco Bertinelli’s ultimate weakness in Gotham was a lack of utter ruthlessness that was held by his grandfather, Guiseppe Bertinelli. Following in the illusion that their business should be clean, honorable, and still efficient, Franco attempted to lead a socially-minded organization. However other crime families had thrown out old concepts of honor amongst thieves and began to peddle (as well as torment) whoever they pleased. This was evident as Roman influence began to conquer the political infrastructure whilst Maroni introduced European Sex Trafficking to Gotham’s unfortunate citizens. However, this did not conquer Franco’s ideals and virtues. During Helena’s childhood, Franco Bertinelli called a meeting of the families and arranged a sort of mob truce that should’ve inspired a white peace and for a good while it worked. That is until greed and intrigue filled the eyes of said rival families and Helena witnessed her parents' assassination when she was twelve years old.

Ignited by a hate as strong as her faith, Helena found herself troubled and orphaned. Though she wouldn't be alone forever. Following her dismissal from Gotham General she attended her parent's private funeral and soon found herself assigned as a ward to her father's best friend: Tony Angelo. Seeing the dangerous situation they would be if they remained in Gotham, Tony immediately saw it in their best interests to leave New Jersey and start up a new life where the assassins could not find them as easily. Though he knew that should they find them he needed to advance Helena's practical skills beyond competitive archery and gymnastics. This would be the first instances of her learning martial arts and as she went to school overseas, Helena's desire for retribution for her parent's murder never ceased. 

By the time she was seventeen years old she was enrolled in a University in Eastern Europe where she studied forensic science, psychology, and foreign language. Years after that she disappeared, though Tony knew where she had gone. Helena traveled through Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas in search of people known by the Bertinelli Crime Family as associates and assets. This included detectives, martial artists, spys, mercenaries, and thieves. Helena did whatever it took to get them to mentor her, calling up all the favors her family name had left to seal the deal. What followed was a rigorous, unrelenting experience where she met each challenge with unrelenting motivation. She returned to Tony years later and challenged him to a duel “without the kid's gloves”. She won and with that victory realized she was confident that she had collected all she needed to return to Gotham and track down every last person who was involved with her family's demise; she was finally ready to begin the final stage of a plan that was over a decade in the making. A plan to avenge her parents, whether Gotham could handle two vigilantes at the same time or not. [/indent][/color]
[b]Ultimization[/b][hr][color=gray][indent]The character of Helena Bertinelli has had many incarnations. I struggled on deciding if I wanted to go with an origin that made her a veteran assassin or a worldly loner and you can pretty much see which one I thought resonated with me better. Ultimate One Universe's Helena Bertinelli is a woman who has sworn an oath of vengeance upon the men and women who ruined her childhood for their own petty, self-serving greed. After being ushered out of the country by her guardian, Tony Angelo, at the age of twelve she's only had one goal in mind. I suppose in a lot of ways this isn't all that different from classic Helena Bertinelli – but I've tried to create something that stands a little different than my last go with the character, though admittedly she just kind of seems like a mobster parallel of Ultimate Bruce Wayne.

But after thinking it over a few days, I think that's what makes her work within the confines of a Year One Gotham. Not only is she closer in age to the Caped Crusader (rather than the Boy Wonder), she's a reflection of a more vicious, ruthless, and burdened character. I think that brings a dynamic in earlier than Bruce usually gets to deal with. I mean, he's already had a punch to his moral centre thanks to Superman, but how much does seeing someone that has methods that mirror both his own and Ultimate Frank Castle's? A woman on the warpath. Mobsters ending up dead. I think that has value.

In addition to kind of making this mirrored Punisher/Batman concept, Helena traditionally doesn't have much of a supporting cast or connections of her own. There's not a lot I thought could make feasible sense so I picked one supporting member of the Birds of Prey, a member of the Outsiders, one of the supporting characters from “Mystery of the Batwoman”, and a re-imagined version of the Batman villain called the Crime Doctor; or at least I think that was his name. At any rate, Helena has been in Gotham gathering intelligence for awhile and now here she is ready to act on it. I'm still debating on how much actual custom equipment she'll have, but a bow and arrow, a handgun, and a quarterstaff is all she really needs to clean up Gotham her way if the Bat finds himself a bit flabbergasted with taking on the real enemies.

You dig?[/indent][/color]
[b]Supporting Cast[/b][hr][color=gray][indent][color=white][b]Dr. Bradford Thorne:[/b][/color] In a previous life, Bradford Thorne was a childhood friend that Helena believe to be her second closest friend. Since her parent's murder at the hands of mob-bought assassins, Bradford has become a national treasure as the finest surgeon to come out of Gotham City in years. His specialty in orthopedic and maxillofacial surgery has ensured Helena an asset in case she is in need of some “off-the-books” medical care, though Helena isn't the only one who considers this.

[color=white][b]Brian Durlin:[/b][/color] An international espionage agent who has been hunting a particular terrorist for the last decade-and-a-half. The Bertinelli's once provided information to him about said individual, which is how Helena came to meet him. He trained Helena in subterfuge and espionage. 

[color=white][b]Kathleen Duquesne:[/b][/color] Kathleen Duquesne is the daughter of Carlton Duquesne, a former associate of Franco Bertinelli and a member of the Gotham Crime Families. In her youth she and Helena Bertinelli were childhood friends – though she hasn't seen Helena since tragedy claimed the life of Helena's parents. She studied at the University of Gotham as an artist and is currently part of an artistic Renaissance among Gotham's elite. 

[color=white][b]Geoffrey Barron:[/b][/color] An inventor and weapons expert that Helena met while she was studying in a university in Markovia – later she used her financial influence to finance his inventions and ideas, which is where her staff and crossbow owe their development to.

[color=white][b]Victoria "Vicki" Vale:[/b][/color] An investigative reporter working for the GCN-affiliated Gotham Gazette. A bit unorthodox in her methods to drum out the truth, Victoria reports on all manners of crime in Gotham City including the "vigilante problem". She has been recently promoted from puff pieces to what she has been driven to do since she was a student at the University of Gotham.[/indent][/color]
[b]Character Picture[/b][hr][color=gray][indent][url=https://i.pinimg.com/564x/41/23/04/4123041753b3f1f545d3c5ab67c4f24b.jpg]#1[/url]
[url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/316885775020982272/496419478679191552/d44d35f9ad929a1bafde547fea9796db.png]#2[/url][/indent][/color]
[b]Sample Post[/b][hr][color=gray][indent]


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[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/oP0vgV2.png?1[/img][/center][right][hr][color=white][b]Slaughter Swamp[/b] -- Several Weeks Ago[/color][hr][/right]
[color=gray][indent][b][color=8C73B5]“How many people did you take out to this very spot, Tony?”[/color][/b]

I exhale the smoke from the cigarette as it falls to the ground, the tips of my boots twisting it into dirt as I finally glance back at the forty-seven-year-old man before me. His name is Tony Rescigno. He works for the Falcone Crime Family. He is the first name on my “list”.

[b][color=8C73B5]“How many people felt pure terror as water filled their lungs.”[/color][/b] I look back at the murky swamp water. [b][color=8C73B5]“Assuming they didn't become lunch first.”[/color][/b]

The thought of the long handful of reporters and government agents that had met their fates in the jaws of a New Jersey Alligator in the last fifty years is an appalling one. I'm not sure what fate is worse, drowning in polluted New Jersey swamp water or being ripped apart piece-by-fucking-piece. My first instinct goes with the water, but I don't know, dying by alligator sounds pretty shit. At the very least I can be part of god's plan in allowing Tony Rescigno to die as his marks did. 

I do want him to know why, though. There doesn't seem to be much to revenge if the victim is ignorant to which specific part of his past is coming home to cash in their chips. My mother didn't have the choice to struggle, held down by a greasy lowlife enforcer who couldn't even be man enough to do the job himself. Had he strangled her, I might have allowed him to die before I set his body into the lake. But it is a little late for could've should've. Maybe in the next life, he will be judged more fairly. I doubt it. But maybe. I turn back to him and look him dead in the eyes, the duct tape still firmly placed on his mouth as he sits on the front of his car like a bonafide hood ornament. 

[b][color=8C73B5]“This car is going to hold you down like you held down Maria Panessa-Bertinelli. I hope it was worth it.”[/color][/b]

I can hear him screaming through the duct tape, but I don't care. His death warrant was signed a long time ago and I really [i]really[/i] don't want to hear a piece of shit like him with no valuable intel beg for his life.

[b][color=8C73B5]“May god have mercy on your soul.”[/color][/b] I utter as I get in the car and hit the ignition and kick it uphill in reverse.[/indent][/color]

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