Mae Kent

{{CharacterPage
 * image1=Matrix.jpg
 * image2=Mae_Kent.jpg
 * logo=Matrix-logo.jpg
 * caption=Portrayed by Lucy Lawless
 * fullname=Mae Kent
 * aka=Linda Danvers, Linda Luthor
 * codename=Matrix
 * position=The Angel of Tomorrow
 * age=27 (Technically)
 * race=Construct
 * role=Hero
 * type=DC FC
 * reg=Registered Codename


 * quote=Oh yeah, definitely! You so want to open fire on me in an enclosed area!


 * overview=Luthor created her as an early attempt at cloning Superman, but as much as she loved her creator, Matrix came to love and admire Superman more, even calling herself "Supergirl" for a time. Then, in 1996, Matrix interrupted a ritual sacrifice to save a girl's life, and things got... complicated.

Over the last two decades, she's been many places and seen many things--from the depths of space, to Heaven and Hell. She has not always been honest with others about her full identity, and sometimes she has vanished for months or years at a time. She's back.


 * sheet=

Character Sheet

Abilities: Power

Earth-Born Angel, Flight: 5, Invulnerability: 8, Pyrokinesis: 6-8, Shapeshifting, Super Senses: 5, Super Speed: 6, Super Strength: 6-8, Willpower: 7

Abilities: Skill

Combat: 7, Expression: 6, Investigation: 5, Knowledge: 5, Science: 4, Vehicles: 4

Advantages: Community, Family, The Divine

Flaws: Exhaustion, History, Vulnerabilities

Languages: ASL, Afrikaans, Cantonese, Daxamite, English, French, German, Interlac, Japanese, Kree, Kryptonian, Mythic-Speech, SEE, Spanish, and Spirit-Speech

Abilities

Power: Earth-Born Angel

As has been noted elsewhere: It's complicated. Matrix became the "Earth- Born Angel of Fire" in the late nineties, meaning that she had merged with a soul chosen by The Powers That Be to defend the Earth from spiritual darkness. She did so for years, but one cannot remain such indefinitely. What this means is, effectively, that Mae has few special advantages from this, save her altered physiology. Other than that, it's a duty that may go silent for years, only to call her back again when she's needed.

Matrix was originally a proto-matter being, capable of assuming nearly any shape and exhibiting various limited psychokinetic abilities, such as the power to manipulate her own form. Since she merged with the entity known as the Earth-Born Angel of Fire, the most obvious change is that her powers have branched out to include pyrokinesis. Less obviously, she is now sensitive to doings "light" and "dark" powers, especially those of a divine or infernal nature, and her spirit resists magic better than most.

The full extent of what this means is not always clear, but she has been living with it for a long time now, and it does not appear to have granted the ability to heal the sick, raise the dead, or other magical powers. It does mean, though, that various spiritual beings may support her, hate her, or demand things of her without much particular warning.

Power: Flight (5)

Matrix can fly at around five thousand miles per hour for extended periods of time. She can force herself to fly at greater velocity for limited bursts, reaching hypersonic speeds, but she will tire within a few minutes at such speeds. However, this allows her to easily reach anywhere in North America within twenty or thirty minutes or anywhere on the planet within two hours. Outside a planet's atmosphere, she can more easily travel at greatly enhanced, though still sublight, speeds.

Power: Invulnerability (8)

Matrix's powers are derived from a combination of her specialized molecular structure, formerly highly mutable but still quite resilient, coupled with her psychokinetic abilities. Her body is in perfect health and may remain so indefinitely, as she resists all ill effects with her Invulnerability rating, whether they be bullets, toxins, diseases, or even the ravages of time, meaning that she does not get sick, is very difficult to drug, and does not perceptibly age.

The key to Mae's invulnerability is a micro-thin force field that encloses her body. The field does not stop Mae from touching, tasting, or otherwise interacting with the world, but it does help filter out or block harmful effects, antigens, and nearly anything that might damage her physically. The forcefield can also be projected a short distance outside her body, protecting anything held very close to her, such as her clothing or a person or object held close to against her.

She can survive the depths of the ocean, the vacuum of space, or high levels of radiation for extended periods of time, though if she extends this for too long she could lose consciousness, her body entering a dormant state until she is brought back to a stable environment that provide oxygen, hydration, and so on.

Power: Pyrokinesis (6-8)

Damage: This ability inflicts heat damage up to its rating level.

Variable Rating: Matrix can focus her psychokinetic powers toward her body field or her flame abilities. When her Super Strength is at level 6 her Pyrokinesis is at level 8, and vice versa.

With concentration, Matrix can manipulate flames hotter than the core of the earth, maintaining strong control over fire in her immediate area to stoke, dampen, redirect, shape, or quench fire of a heat intensity up to her ability rating. She can also exert weaker control over a greater area, extending her abilities along the distance scale. However, for each point of distance she gains, she loses a point of heat intensity that she can manage in the flames. This power also affects supernatural fire.

Power: Shapeshifting

Matrix's body was created almost entirely of a metamorphic substance called proto-matter, and she once enjoyed vast shapeshifting powers as a result. Since her physical structure was altered, her form is much more stable, and she can only manage minor adjustments to her features, such as her hair and eye color, voice, fingerprints, or retinal patterns. Mainly, she uses this ability to help maintain her secret identity as Mae Kent. Notably, this power can also be used to help her heal rapidly, bouncing back almost completely from extreme damage, but she can only do so about once per week due to the extensive drain on her energy levels it causes.

Power: Super Senses (5)

In general, all of Matrix's senses now operate at a vastly extended radius. What a normal person could clearly perceive at a quarter of a mile, Mae can now perceive at a distance of fifty miles. This holds true for sight, scent, and hearing alike. Similarly, her senses of taste and touch are also over two thousand times stronger than a normal person's. She can track fairly easily by scent, and she can see small objects as clearly as a microscope with 2,000x magnification. She also perceives expanded audio input along both pitch and frequency, allowing her, for example, to "hear " radio waves and see across the electromagnetic spectrum to perceive x-rays and ultraviolet or infrared light.

Power: Super Speed (6)

Not only does Matrix's unique physical structure allow her to react quickly and move nimbly, but it also allows her to move very, very fast. She can run at over ten thousand miles per hour without strain and could complete an hour's worth of tasks in a heartbeat. Her perceptions and reaction times are as fast as she is, so thought and action are virtually simultaneous for her. She is also limber and nimble to a superhuman degree. Even without enhanced speed, though, she would still have dexterity and reflexes at five times those of peak human ability.

Power: Super Strength (6-8)

Variable Rating: Matrix can focus her psychokinetic powers toward her body field or her flame abilities. When her Super Strength is at level 6 her Pyrokinesis is at level 8, and vice versa.

Matrix's strength is enhanced via a psychokinetic field that extends to any object she touches. This field grants the majority of her resistance to damage, and it also allows her to exert much greater physical force than many other beings. In addition, this field grants stability to what she touches, allowing her to perform such feats as picking up an airplane by a fragile wing, holding up a crumbling building, or using a lamp pole as a viable weapon when it would otherwise shatter in her hands.

Power: Willpower (7)

A lifetime of extraordinary experiences, many demanding far more of Matrix than anything in the normal human experience, have left her with a potent, unfaltering will. Born of innovative science, she has soared with heroes and faced the most terrible of villains. She has been forged in the fires of Heaven and Hell and braved the frigid depths of outer space. Hers is not an indomitable will, but it now takes experiences far beyond the ken of mortal mankind to truly wear her mind and spirit down.

Skill: Combat (7)

Matrix was imprinted with basic martial arts knowledge, and since then her experiences have honed her into an expert combatant. When using weapons of any kind, Mae's ability level is effectively reduced to 5. Her abilities also rely on her enhanced reflexes, so if her powers are exhausted, the skill is reduced to a 4, whether she is armed or unarmed. Mae also has an excellent knowledge of tactics and strategy, honed over her years of experience, which is not affected by reduced power levels (remains 7).

Skill: Expression (6)

Linda's talent for art has been carried over to Matrix. While she is skilled with most visual arts, from painting to photography, her favored form is sculpture. She is also a skilled writer and can fake her way along with a few musical instruments. Based on Matrix's imprinted knowledge and supplemented with life experience, she is also skilled at interacting with others, both sensing their intentions and having the desired effect on them. This includes everything from persuasive speaking to intimidation.

Skill: Investigation (5)

Plenty of experience and a few stints working as an investigative reporter, a family tradition, have left Matrix no master detective, but she is perceptive and intelligent. Her work has often called for her to put facts and clues together, making her a competent investigator. Notably, this includes a working and limited knowledge of the occult. She knows almost nothing about the practical matters of magic or spell- casting, but she knows plenty about fighting demons and other nasties.

Skill: Knowledge (5)

Matrix has been imprinted with general cultural knowledge from the world at a fairly standard level. Mae has added to her base knowledge with a variety of experience, so is familiar with a variety of topics and information, including realms of Heaven and Hell, alien worlds, and Kryptonian history and culture.

Skill: Science (4)

Neither Matrix nor Mae ever focused on any particular subject in science, yet Matrix's imprinted knowledge gives her a general, working knowledge and understanding of most Earth-based and many alien sciences, including Kryptonian, if only to an amateur level.

Skill: Vehicles (4)

Between imprinted knowledge and a variety of experience, Matrix has become a passable driver and pilot, able to operate most vehicles with reasonably straightforward controls. She capable, even if she relies more on her own reflexes than on technical skill. As a result, this skill may drop by one or two points when her power reserves are depleted.

Advantages

Advantage: Community

Matrix has been a part of the community of heroes, villains, and all those linked to their world for many years now. She has many contacts from that population, ranging from high-rank government officials and legislators to scientists and explorers--and, of course, varied newspaper reporters and delicatessen owners, too. She has had many friends and allies over the years, and while her fame is not as great as, say, Superman's, there are many who remember her and look on her fondly.

Advantage: Family

"Born" into the Luthor family as a cloned experiment, Matrix was first dedicated to them beyond all others. Then she came to admire Superman, and in turn she was introduced to the Kents. In time, she came to know many members of the "Super-family," and she can generally depend upon them for various aid and resources in times of need.

Advantage: The Divine

The Earth-Born Angels were created by a joint effort between The Presence and The Shechinah, possibly linking them to Gaia, Herself. What is certain is that such individuals are called upon to serve as heroes and to combat the powers of darkness on Earth. Mae has served as one when called for years, now, though at times others have held its power.

Flaws

Flaw: Exhaustion

Unlike her Kryptonian "family" members, Matrix does not have a nearly limitless reserve of energy. Like most healthy individuals, she can go for twenty-four hours at high levels of exertion without significant loss of ability. However, for every point she pushes past that on the "Endurance" scale, she loses one point from her Super Strength. For every two points she pushes on the scale, she loses one point from her Flight, Pyrokinesis, and Super Speed. Also, any time she "Pushes" a power, including when she uses her Shapeshifting to recover from serious harm, after that scene she suffers a penalty of one point to all abilities until fully rested. Recovery requires a full week of normal levels of rest and nutrition.

Flaw: History

Matrix was "born" in 1988 and effectively an adult of twenty, physically and mentally, by 1993. So, despite her chronological age, she has accrued the adult life experiences of someone fifteen years older than herself. The lack of a childhood was only the first of many odd life experiences that have shaped her. Luthor, the father figure who manipulated and used her, was lost to her, and then her life was turned upside-down when she "merged" with Linda Danvers and eventually became, sort of, the Earth-Born Angel of Fire. She has traveled space and faced alien warlords, been plunged into the depths of various Hell dimensions, and accrued a long list of potential enemies along the way. Mae's life is far from simple, and it hasn't allowed her to hold on to many relationships. More than the years, the "mileage" has left its mark on her psyche.

Flaw: Vulnerabilities

Despite her resilient form, Matrix is not entirely immune to harm. For one thing, drugs in sufficient concentration will affect her if she ingests them, especially if they are tailored to her unique biochemistry. Matrix is also vulnerable to mental attacks that deal direct psychic damage, as all the discipline and training in the world do not grant her "psychic shields" or any similar defense against mental attacks.


 * history=

Matrix was created in the late 1980s. by Luthorcorp scientists at the behest of then-CEO, Lionel Luthor. She was "born" in 1988, and her mind and body were fully adult within a few months. As a result, she may be twenty-seven years old, but she has more the mentality of someone a decade or two older. She adored Lionel at first, but when she met Superman her world was changed. Superman saw something in Matrix, and he gradually helped her see beyond the limitations of her Luthorcorp loyalties. In time, he even brought her into the family as "Mae Kent," a supposed cousin, and the elder Kents were able to help make up for some of the childhood Mae never had. Matrix was the first person of that era to call herself "Supergirl," though in time she gave up that codename.

Everything changed when she met Linda Danvers, a girl who was to be ritually sacrificed by cultists, and Matrix's proto-matter form was merged with Linda's body. Linda had carried a destiny, a destiny that Matrix came to share, as the Earth-Born Angel of Fire. For a time Matrix embraced Linda's identity, fascinated by this more human aspect to herself, but in time she came to see that she was effectively living out the life of a dead girl. Her calling led her many places--distant space, Heaven's Door, and even the depths of Hell. Hells, really. In any case, both the years and the mileage ticked by, and Matrix was often absent for extended periods of time.

By now, the memories of Linda have largely been absorbed into the greater whole of what is "Matrix," and she has found a balance within herself. She also returns to Metropolis after an extended campaign in space, where she had been on a mission of mercy helping a war-ravaged planet rebuild, its resources and infrastructure largely destroyed by decades of war and centuries of neglect.


 * associations=

Past Associations
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