Full Name: Tessia “Tess” Salinas
Age: 19
Species: Human
Gender: F
Appearance: Standing at just under five feet, Tess doesn’t mind the fact that her smaller, petite stature keeps her hidden in plain sight which compliments her introverted nature. And being rather on the androgynous side, she leans toward gender neutral and simple wardrobes, especially those that don’t draw unwanted attention. She keeps her dark hair short most of the time, shaved down to the skin on one side, and a few ear piercings.
Equipment and Personal Belongings: For the most part, Tess has nothing other than the clothes on her back, as most of her needs are taken care of through the program she is a part of.
Physical Abilities: Tess has always had a natural gift to figure things out,, whether it is putting together a complex model with small, intricate parts, or even calculating risk in a game of strategy. Combat abilities are mostly basic self-defense techniques, something trained as a requirement while residing in the facility.
Superpowers: Technomancy (shadowjack) - ability to understand and manipulate/hack electronic technology through clever use of telepathic connects and obfuscation. With regard to general electronic devices, it allows the user to tap into the unit and “speak” to it to an extent, so on a simple scale, a microwave could be remotely hijacked.
Those devices, however, that are networked or connected to the internet, can be quite tricky and require a greater level of mental focus in order to “travel” through cyberspace. A user can easily get lost as well, their mind jacked into the framework for so long that it can take hours or days to come back.
Limitations: Like any telepathic ability, usage can be extremely mentally & physically draining depending on the level of challenge while interfacing with a particular electronic or computer system. There is even a chance that her mind could be locked into a system, while her body remains in a dormant state, which could prove fatal if left unchecked for too long.
Personality: A borderline introvert, for the most part, Tessia is quite friendly and outgoing to those she knows, and rather suspicious and close-minded to just about everyone else. Her relationship to technology and the like, however, seems to surpass any human connection, as her comfort level is always highest when surrounded by programming language and the warmth of a motherboard.
Place of Origin: Born and raised in South Boston to working-class parents in a low income part of the city, she was uprooted and the family moved to Kansas City due to work relocation. Otherwise, her upbringing was fairly normal, all things considered.
Background:Tess was an only child, which meant when her parents weren't up in her business, she spent a lot of time alone. But, as a tinkerer at heart, it was time well-spent, becoming interested in computers, electronics, and essentially how things went together. But even moreso, how they came apart and what was inside that made them tick. Time online helped to teach her just about anything, especially as she dove headfirst into the world of hacking. Sure, it wasn't all glamorous like the movies depicted, but to a girl who loved to explore, the internet was a sea of untapped playgrounds.
For the most part, Tessia Salinas was a typical introvert hailing from one bustling city on the East Coast, and moving to another a lot more lowkey than she’d expected, but also accepted. Kansas City was nothing like Boston, but it would have to do for now. While her family didn’t have much, they worked hard, both parents holding down jobs at “KC Tech” in the company’s industrial sector, assembling computer parts for military distribution. Their long hours had Tess home by herself most of the time, which was a blessing and a curse, especially for a latchkey kid.
Small hints of a power that had not yet surfaced peeked in and out of the young girl’s life. Faint unknown digitized voices, distorted and scrambled, were heard every-so-often as though calling out to her. Remnants of vibrations and electrical currents ran through her nervous system, but were simply shrugged off as “the chills”. It was only later in life that the build-up couldn’t hide any longer.
At nineteen years old -months after the explosion which rocked the world- the inherent hidden supernatural abilities that slept deep within her psyche since birth began to manifest. Perhaps she was a late bloomer, or this was normal for someone like her, but it triggered without warning. As she sat in her bedroom mindlessly trudging through a first-person shooter, the initial wave of a strange yet familiar telepathic connection came, fusing her senses with that of the gaming console. Digitized voices, binary waves, electronic pulses, cryptic code, and holographic images surfaced as though an imaginary “heads-up display” had appeared before her. Tess had no idea what to do, and was unable to essentially shut it off, and the mental exhaustion became too much, too soon. She cowered in the corner, her mind continuing to reveal more of this unknown world, lights flickered, the television fizzled out, and as the power within her grew, there began an incessant exchange of cryptic information that she couldn't quiet, as though every piece of technology within a small radius was reaching out to her like a beacon.
Eventually the sound of her own cries echoed from the bedroom, and both parents rushed in to see their daughter curled up in a dark corner, shaking her head and confused, while electrical devices in their house -as well as surrounding homes- behaved erratically. They were at a loss, But what could her parents have done? What could anyone have done? Tess did her best to explain the situation to them, however the magnitude of the events were simply too much comprehend. That mixed with the media firestorms of "meta-humans" and "strange happenings", it wasn't long before they had to make a choice.
Seek professional help.
But the "help" offered by these government-run facilities came with a price. Through extensive -and somewhat invasive- testing sessions, they essentially knew what the girl was capable of, but as things usually went, wanted to know more. It wasn't enough to be able to communicate with the inner working of simple electronic devices, but rather to interface with networked systems and even the internet. Tessia's powers were put to the test, first "jacking" into a localized and controlled mainframe to travel around from computer-to-computer, learning to navigate while simultaneously keeping herself transparent to security protocols. The journey in and of itself was draining enough on her, but it didn't stop there, as gateways into the internet and outside sources were opened, which allowed the girl to travel into places a hacker would only dream. But, even then these short trips interfacing with unstable processes and systems, being kicked from servers, and a myriad of other ordeals, became extremely taxing on her physically, mentally, and emotionally to the point that she eventually blacked out from damage to her nervous system.
And so what was to be considered a "72 hour hold" turned into countless weeks of living, studying, and recovering under the strict supervision of top scientists and researchers in a facility just outside Kansas City. No external interference. Of course, to keep the parents satiated in the interim, substantial government compensation was given in the form of "hush money".
Tessia Salinas was now property, and given the handle of "Cypher" moving forward.
Lord Wyron
Dion
Heat
Lady Arya
