Name: Marina van Essenhout
Aliases: Nickname: Nina
Alias: Aegis
Age: 33
Birthday: 18th August, 1985
Birth Place: Pretoria, South Africa
Gender: Female
Powers: Super-Strength & Durability
Affiliation: For this moment in time, she’s lent herself to S.H.I.E.L.D and their work with the X-Men. However, she doesn’t feel any loyalty to either.
Height: 5’3”
Weight: 120 lbs
Build: Slight, slim, and just a touch curvy. Not much muscle to her at all.
Eyes: Hazel; more green than brown.
Hair: Chestnut brown with some gold-ish highlights; about shoulder length and naturally curly, though she will often straighten it.
Skin Tone: Pale
Tattoos/Scars/Piercings: Thanks to her super-durability coming about around her teenage years, the only scars she has are either from childhood mishaps, and from injuries sustained as an adult that were bad enough to actually hurt her. In short, she has small scars on her knees from a childhood of falling over, and an old gunshot wound on her left shoulder blade. As for piercings, she has the standard pierced lobes - she wanted a nose piercing when she was 17, but when she had it done, the needle broke and her nose left unscathed. Stupid super skin.
Personal Style: Depends on what she's doing. If she's working, it'll be practicality above anything else; something she can move easily in, something durable, and sensible shoes with plenty of grip. As for out of work, her style is pretty diverse; she'll wear anything from jeans to skirts, from blouses to tank tops. If it looks good, she'll wear it.
Intelligent * Vengeful * Sympathetic (To most) * Stubborn * Confident * Distrusting
Sexuality: Pansexual
Relationship Status: Single – though her last relationship ended fairly badly.
Personality: Nina can seem a bit complicated at times. While she gives off an air of cold and aloofness, she does have a caring heart underneath this. Time, events, and her own actions have frosted over her once personable and amicable personality, so these days you're more likely to get sarcasm or a scathing remark than anything nice - and that's to the people she likes. In a word, she's bitchy, and can get under people's skin quite a lot. When it comes to children or young adults being in places she deems inappropriate (Such as working for S.H.I.E.L.D or the X-Men) then she'll be more than a bit patronising and condescending to them, their abilities, and their reasons for being there. However, this stems from a rather motherly heart. Nina may insult you, but she'll be damned before a hair is harmed on your head... and God help the person who attempts to do so.
If time goes on and Nina actually begins to relax around you, the sarcastic quips will remain, but more often than not will be more fond than scathing. Despite her trust issues and problems with commitment, she does enjoy the company of others, and if trust is gained, she'll be one of the more stead-fast friends you've ever had. Betray that trust, and you'll never see warmth from her again.
Habits: Bites her lip, runs hands through her hair, humming songs under her breath when relaxed.
Hobbies: Playing the piano, tinkering, trivia/pub quizzes, watching natural disaster documentaries.
Fears:
- Getting too close to someone and having to watch them die again.
- Drowning - super strength and durability does nothing against water filling your lungs. She tends to avoid large bodies of water due to this, and past events.
- Spiders. Funny, for someone as strong as her, but they still really creep her out.
Likes:
- Old buildings, especially churches.
- Rabbits.
- The piano; although forced into these lessons, it still remained her favourite instrument, and has never stopped playing it.
- Seafood; especially shellfish.
- Hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream.
- That cosy feeling of sitting in a warm house as it rains outside.
- Thunderstorms.
Dislikes:
- Infidelity (And the fact that she's been unfaithful herself).
- Seeing innocents being put in danger.
- Hypocrisy.
- Jellyfish.
- The trumpet; one of the many instruments she was forced to learn as a child, and hated every moment of it.
- Pointless wars and those who instigate them.
- Large bodies of water.
General World Skills:
- Engineering Science: By default, has a superb grasp in science and mathematics - Nina knows her way around machines, computers and mechanisms, be they simple or complex.
- Language: Learnt Latin, Russian, French, and Mandarin Chinese as a child. Also a few other languages, but she swiftly dropped them as she entered University. For the four above however, she is fluent.
- Problem-Solving: One has to think outside of the box in her degree, and that is her forte. Using her skill in engineering and science, Nina can apply all she has learnt to help solve real-life problems.
- Driving: Nothing special here - can drive a car.
Combat Skills:
- Judo
- Kendo
- Super-Strength
- Hand-to-Hand combat
Possessions:
- Chevrolet Corvette C6 Convertible (Navy Blue)
- Several fake passports/IDs of varying names/nationalities
- Several credit cards - again, of various different names
- Burner phone
- iPhone
- Toolkit
- Some kind of metal boot things that she's clearly been tinkering with for a while.
- Gold pendant necklace; belonged to her mother.
- Hunting knife
- Rope
- First-Aid kit
- Two pictures; one, an old photograph of herself as a child with her mother and father; and a more recent one, with herself as a grown-up and her elderly father.
How did you discover your powers: Growing up around Grandparents who expected great things from you made for a very stressful childhood for Nina. Classes in music, foreign languages, etiquette and various amounts of sports were a regular occurrence every week for the young girl, and by the time she reached teenage hood, the stress started to become too much. During a mountain climbing trip at the age of 14 with her schoolfriends, Nina slipped and fell down a fairly deep crevasse. Upon hitting the bottom, she was astonished to find she didn't have a single injury. No scrapes, no blood, and no broken bones even though the drop had been a good 20 feet onto solid rock. The climbing group chalked it down to the rope pulling taught right before she reached the floor, but Nina knew the rope had snapped before it could take any of her weight. Something strange had happened, and she didn't really know what. Her super-strength (And realisation of her powers) were awoken during one of her sparring classes in Judo, about a week after the climbing incident. Feeling particularly stressed out during this session, she grappled her opponent, and suddenly, he was on the floor several feet away. Thankfully, nobody had really noticed the way she had easily flung him, and he was too concussed to remember what had happened. She got away with hiding her powers for a second time, but now, Nina knew she was something different. After this, she had to start training herself to control the strength hidden away in her small muscles.
Why did you choose the side that you did?: Quite simply, money and freedom. Nina has her reservations about the supposed “Good-guys” of the world. The likes of S.H.I.E.L.D, Stark Industries, the Avengers and the X-Men aren’t as squeaky clean or innocent as they like to pretend. Nina can understand having to do something bad for the greater good, but to do so and then act like you’re above it doesn’t sit right with her. However, when she was approached by S.H.I.E.L.D, she couldn’t deny the chance. The payment was decent, the prospect of a clean criminal record was tempting, and the thought of the kids in Xavier’s Academy being caught up in all of this was too much to ignore. Again, more bad acts by the “good guys”, letting children fight in a war like what this Brotherhood was suggesting… but if Nina could lessen the body count, perhaps it would be worthwhile.
General History: Nina was born to two college Professors in 1985, in Pretoria, South Africa. Her mother taught history, and her father English language at the nearby University of Pretoria. Nina doesn't remember much of her life there during this time, other than the day she and her father left. Being a three year old at the time, Nina didn't quite understand what her Daddy meant when he said Mummy had gone somewhere else, and they had to go back to England. She wanted to go to the same place as her mother, but her father tearfully said that wasn't possible.
Naturally, as she got older, Nina understood what had happened. Her father never divulged the manner of her mother's death, and avoided talking about both her and South Africa for years. Using common sense (And some less than tactful words from her grandfather) she could work out that she'd likely died in a terrorist attack. Nina wasn't quite sure what "Apartheid" or "terrorist" meant at this point, but the terms were used often enough in her house when her father was out of earshot. As an adult, Nina came to understand the terrible times going on in South Africa as a child, and while she missed her mother, simply accepted that innocents tended to get caught up during times like those - there was no point in being angry at anyone.
Looking back to her childhood, Nina and her father moved in with his parents, living in Oxford. The pair were also professors, teaching at Oxford University, and fully expecting Nina to follow in their path of academia. Grandmother taught music, and wanted Nina to follow her path. Her Grandfather taught Modern Languages, and wanted Nina to follow him. So, from a young age, Nina was groomed to follow both. Lessons in various languages and musical instruments were a common thing day in and day out, leaving the young girl with a very busy schedule out of school. Thankfully, she was naturally bright, and she excelled in her lessons - specifically maths and sciences - despite the added stress at home. In an attempt to help her let off some steam, Nina's father signed her up for various martial art classes. It worked to an extent - but with the competitive nature of her grandparents, they soon started pushing her farther in martial arts too. Not too long after this, the stress became too much, and her powers manifested.
Nina dealt with her mutant powers surprisingly well - she couldn't really find a downside to her super strength and durability, just as long as she kept it on the down low. She couldn't imagine her grandparents being happy with these strange powers, and she guessed it would just upset her father. That was best case scenario - worst case were thoughts of government intervention and science experiments on her. So, Nina kept it quiet, and was able to manage it fairly well. Now and then she'd slip up; bend a railing by accident, or hit an opponent just a little too hard when sparring - but nobody ever really suspected something was off. Or, if they did, she never knew about it.
By the time Nina was 18, she'd left college and was ready for University. Thanks to her excellent grades and pressure from her grandparents, Oxford had to be her first choice. However, she had say in which course to pick - and so, she applied for Engineering Science. Her grandparents weren't particularly pleased (Her Grandmother believed engineering was for men and men alone) but at this point, Nina stopped caring. She could move away from their unbearable presence and actually enjoy life and her course - and so she did. Dropping many of the extra-curricular activities she was forced into, Nina's academic and social life began to flourish. By the time her four year course was up, she'd graduated with a first honours degree, and also met the man she could quite happily live the rest of her life with; a fellow graduate named Lou.
As the couple had both done the same course, they began looking for jobs together, deciding they made quite the team. It didn't take long for Nina to be approached by various engineering companies... including Stark Industries. Although Nina had made peace with what happened to her mother in the past, it had left her with a slight bitter streak when it came to war and fighting. While she knew certain causes had to be fought for, Stark Industries supplied weapons to whoever would purchase them - including some of the worst people in the world, the kind who started wars over greed and lust for power. She couldn't ever work for such an immoral company, and at first, ignored their emails.
This was when Nina made her first mistake.
A shady group named Valkyrie came into contact with her, saying they were an anti-war group that disliked the work that Tony Stark and his company were doing. Apparently they had people in all kinds of industries that were fuelling war around the world, but couldn't get anyone into Stark Industries - but she could. They told her about the new plans that were being created every day to bigger and more destructive weapons; if she could only get her hands on a blueprint, or proof that they were selling to dictators and the like, then they could get the world to see what Stark Industries really stood for; death, not progress. Nina was young, idealistic, and the thought of over-throwing such a powerful company and man was too good to pass up, especially if it could help save lives. A week after this, she answered her emails, and landed an interview with Stark Industries. The month after that, she and Lou were flying to America, ready for their new jobs in New York City.
Naturally, Nina didn't land a high-up job on her first day. It would take time to get to where she needed to be to help this anti-war group out, but they said they were happy to wait for as long as it took. So as the months went on and her work continued, Nina slowly but surely worked her way up the ranks. And the more time passed, the more she saw, and the angrier she got. So much more than she knew was going towards death and war, all under the guise of "protection". All this did was get rid of any reservations she had about the sabotage she was planning. After her first year, she knew what she was going to do.
It started with just talk in the hallways; some brand new, secret weapon that was more powerful than a nuke, only with no radioactivity. Half of it was just hearsay, but it was obvious something was going on. The trouble was, she had to get to the blueprints after they were completed, but before they were sent off to be produced in some out-of-bounds facility that she'd never get into. That meant she'd need clearance she didn't have at that moment in time... but Nina knew of a certain show-off who did have this clearance. A man who was known for doing stupid things for the sake of getting into bed with a woman. And she just so happened to be working with him.
This was when Nina made her second mistake.
She was still with Lou at this point, and still loved him dearly. They worked in separate areas, and she had stormed above in the ranks far faster than he, but they were living together and even talking of marriage at this point. But she was so stuck in her double-life, so ready to do anything for the anti-war group, that flirting with and bedding to then steal a security card from Tony Stark didn't even feel like cheating.
"It's not really being unfaithful." She'd tell herself.
"It's for the greater good." All she'd have to do was make sure Lou didn't find out. But as Nina unfortunately found out, karma has a way of swinging back round and biting one on the ass.
Her plan worked, to an extent. Six or so months of dressing like a tart and getting Stark's attention was both easy and unnoticeable, with the amount of women in the company that did so. Next came stroking his ego during small snatches of small talk, and then finally, she was invited to join him for a party. Nina told Lou it was just to try and get a promotion and pay-rise, and there was absolutely nothing romantic about it - he believed her, and even told her to be safe and to enjoy schmoozing politicians and CEOs. She doesn't remember much of the party, being so hyped up to finally finish her work for Valkyrie. It didn't take much to persuade Tony to go to his office rather than his home, and a few hours later, Nina stood triumphantly in front of the restricted labs; passed out Stark locked in his office, cameras easily disabled, and his card in hand. The blueprints she needed were in a locked cabinet, but thanks to her super-strength, it posed no real problem to her. In no time at all, Nina was heading home with the blueprints, and Tony Stark none the wiser of her disappearance. As soon as she was far enough away, she contacted Valkyrie and told them of her success. They agreed to meet outside her house to hand the blueprints over.
This was Nina's third mistake.
When she arrived home, Lou was still awake and greeted Nina as she went inside. It was easy to just lie about the evening and how enjoyable it was due to how jubilant she felt. The noise of a car pulling up outside interrupted them, and Nina said something along the lines of giving a friend a present as she approached their front door. Before her hand could grasp the handle, shots rang out and pierced the wall and door. As she hit the floor, Nina panicked; what if she hadn't been careful enough, and Stark had contacted the police?! But then common sense set in, and she realised no real police officer would just shoot before yelling something. This had to Valkyrie... and they were clearly not as anti-violence as they pretended to be.
As the gunshots fell silent, Nina and Lou pelted towards the backdoor, heading for their car in the hopes of escape. As they piled in, another gunshot rang out from inside the house, and Nina felt an explosion of pain over her left shoulder. Pulling her into the car, Lou sped away, yelling at her for answers. In her haze of pain and panic, Nina couldn't stop herself from telling him the truth, not when she'd just put him in so much danger. Everything came out; Valkyrie, the reason she took the job, the lying, the cheating... she couldn't stop talking through her tears as their car sped down the highway, getting as far as they could from their house. From Lou, there was only stony silence. Nina can't recall what his last words were, but the expression on his face will never leave her mind. Disbelief, disgust, and just pure heartbreak. She wasn't looking at him for very long before a car slammed into theirs, pushing it off the highway and cliffs and into the sea below.
This was likely the only time Nina has ever hated herself for her powers. Whether the crash killed Lou or the water, she wasn't sure, but she was conscious and living throughout all of it. The water rushing into the car, the frantic pulling of her seatbelt and the car door to try and escape, pulling on Lou in a desperate attempt to pull him out before she ran out of oxygen, and the car slipped from her grasp. Breaking the surface for air, she tried several times to swim down and get Lou out, but each time the car sank further, and at last, it was out of sight.
Life after this became much harder for Nina, but she couldn't complain. Not when she'd brought it all on herself. It didn't take long for her to discover she was now wanted for theft - even without cameras, there was probably something she had missed, making her the most obvious suspect. At least Valkyrie never got their hands on the blueprints, which were now floating somewhere in the Atlantic ocean. Still, she'd have to hide from them. Whatever they stood for, they clearly weren't interested in having outside accomplices such as herself alive. Nina had to go into hiding, or be arrested or killed by both the law and criminals. Hiding meant a new identity, and a year or so later when watching TV in some dive in Mexico, an idea formed in her mind. Iron Man had just been discovered to be Tony Stark, and it would appear that he was becoming a more moral man if his company's productions were anything to go by. If Nina couldn't help people the way she had wanted to before, then she'd do it Iron Man's way - fight crime, and save innocents. At last, her super strength would come in very handy.
That has been Nina's life for the past decade or so now; creating a name for herself as "Aegis", she has been travelling the globe to just try and help people. Typically underdogs, people stuck in bad places that just get worse when getting involved with crime. The only contact she's had with her original identity is funding her father's care home, and visiting him whenever she can get the chance. What with suffering with dementia at this point, the nurses don't pay much heed to his happy stories of his daughter visiting in the night time in his room. The biggest goal of Nina's was to try and take down Valkyrie, but it wasn't particularly easy. Chances were that it was a fake name and front for some other evil group, so her efforts have been fruitless beyond a few raids at docks or private airports where they've been hanging about under their pseudonym. She still has hope for the future, and hope to keep helping people in her own way. Hence why she accepted S.H.I.E.L.D's offer of "Temporary employment" and the possibility of her criminal record being wiped. Nina guesses that Stark wasn't in on that particular deal, but it was one too tempting to give up. Especially when working with the likes of other mutants.
Character Quote: “Great things come in small packages.”
Theme Song: Girl with one Eye - Florence and the MachineAnything Else: Felix Fenway - Farrow's Gift*By submitting this CS in its completion I am stating I have read all the rules for this Rp and am agreeing to follow them to the fullest with respect and courtesy. I acknowledge that I can and will be removed from the RP without warning if I break a rule or cause problems with my fellow Rpers or the GM.
