GwenSynth

Carolina is  taller than average at six feet and two inches. She was last seen wearing a skin-tight magical suit and jacket that is believed to be crafted from their own flesh. The blue coloring is a result of oxidization and pressure from her own abilities. The light golden trimming and bright star-like centerpiece were crafted and added for fashion and ego purposes only.

Sanchez was born to a poor family who was more often than not one paycheck away from being homeless. Thankfully for Carolina's parents, her abilities were discovered before she even turned seven years old.

On their seventh birthday, Carolina's parents revealed they had a great, big surprise prepared and Carolina's eyes widened with anticipation. Carolina didn't get many gifts, so the fact that her parents went out of the way to prepare a surprise only heightened their excitement. Carolina was instructed to put on a blind fold and instructed to take her father's hand. What Carolina didn't know is that her parents had made arrangements with a shady, off-the-books government corp that sought out powered children in exchange for massive amounts of money. With a pay-day this lucrative, Carolina's parents wouldn't dare say no. They had only agreed to birth Carolina with the hopes that their child would develop abilities from birth, increasing the child's value. Once they learned of Carolina's powers, their eyes filled with greed and hope. Carolina was their way out of poverty, and they knew it.

Carolina unwillingly followed her "father" until she was told to take a big step upward, and she climbed into the back of a van. When the doors sealed behind them, Carolina instinctively took of their blindfold. With their parents nowhere in sight, and only two masked and armed guards accompanying her, she began to worry. Before Carolina could ask questions, they were sedated and taken to an undisclosed facility where they would be subjected to years of poking, prodding, testing, and torture.

This hardened Carolina's heart. So much so, that while studying Carolina at age eighteen, it was found that the pressure in her chest alone was so great that her heart was surrounded by several millimeters of diamond. Strangely, this did not interfere with her bodily functions or health, but did make it increasingly difficult to monitor her heart rate. Over the years, Carolina began to withstand the torture and testing so easily that it was believed they were impervious to pain. While this was not true, Carolina's pain tolerance was so high now that they were more interested in advanced forms of torture, egging on her captors.

"Come on, don't you have any neurotoxins you can throw at me!?" Carolina would taunt.

At Carolina's request, they were exposed to all manner of fatal attacks. Bullets bounced off of her like rubber. From 9mm to .50cal, they didn't even tickle Carolina. Rockets, grenades, and mortar shells only left soot in their hair. Flamethrowers ruined her only clothes, and colder temperatures made their nipples erect, but that was the extent of those extremes. Yet, Carolina's captors were certain they could push their victim further.

When the first neurotoxin was introduced and injected into Carolina's veins, they felt incredibly ill. They thought they were prepared, but it was unlike any pain they had endured before. She could feel her body slowly shutting down and she knew if she didn't fight harder, she would die. She had to separate her body from the toxin by any means necessary. She released as much pressure from her body as possible, but could still feel the poison ripping her apart. A desperate, dying thought occurred to Carolina as their energy began to expire. "If I can make myself as loose as I can make myself dense, then maybe--"

And that was Carolina's focus. Instead of making themselves more dense, they focused on going in the opposite direction. What happened was stunning even to their captors. Carolina had gone so far that their very prison cell began to freeze as their body seemingly melted apart. At first, it was thought that Carolina had simply been eaten alive from the inside out by the toxin. It was later understood that Carolina had loosened their genetic composition so much, that they had entered a gaseous state. Their mind and consciousness somehow retained integrity, despite being entirely made of gas. It took Carolina some time to stop panicking, until they realized they were in a gaseous state and panic resumed.

Over the next six years, Carolina used everything her captors threw at her to develop her abilities. Eventually, they would be able to change states between solid and gas as quickly as sixty seconds. Carolina became so strong in fact that their prison needed to be revamped to house them properly. The pressure Carolina was able to build in their body could now be exerted outward in a small radius of twenty feet. With this exerted pressure came an incredible amount of heat, causing entire floors to melt around them. In their gaseous state, Carolina released a small radius of cold that reached temperatures of -196 Celcius (-320 F). This is what earned them the title of "Pressure".

It was only four slow, dull years later that Carolina found themselves free of their captors. Not by choice, but by force. Her name and abilities had been scouted by some unsavory characters who dubbed themselves, "Moray Clan".

Though they didn't know anything about "Moray Clan", Carolina was inclined to join them. The first things they did differently was to allow Carolina their freedom. No cuffs, no special cages to keep their powers inhibited, nor threat of death. For this, Carolina came along voluntarily. After all, no one else had come to her rescue.

Since then, Carolina has faithfully served "Moray Clan" behind the scenes, only appearing at their behest.

Unsurprisinly, Carolina is a vindictive person at their core. They blame their parents, they blame their captors, they blame society, and they blame heroes too. Why did she deserve to be treated like a lab rat? Why was she forced to endure punishment for decades without relent? Why did no one come looking for her? Why did rescue never come? It has made Carolina bitter and angry. Despite this, Carolina has learned to be come very cool and calculated. Resourceful and witty, Carolina is an adversary whose name is rarely spoken, but that carries incredible weight. This makes Carolina prideful and cautious, as their reputation means a great deal to them.

They've learned the hard way that displays of bravado without the talent to reinforce it, just makes you a brave fool. As a result, Carolina is tactful in the coldest of ways. Relentless, unforgiving, and steadfast in their beliefs, Carolina remains a force to be recognized.

Carolina has dubbed their power, "Pressure Drive". "Pressure Drive" reacts in different ways, depending on Carolina's state of being.

"Pressure Drive: Solid State" - In Carolina's... well, solid state, they are able to form pressure within themselves and around themselves. If this pressure is spread evenly throughout Carolina's body at once, without outward projection, they can retain a density and hardness of diamonds. When projected outward, Carolina loses some density in her body, exchanging it for combat effectiveness. With great focus, Carolina can control her pressure into a fine point. By placing all of her pressure into a fist, she can release the pressure with one blow. The most powerful punch she has ever recorded, measured in 30,000 tons of TNT (a little more than early grade nuclear weapons). They are currently attempting to focus their pressure into a single finger, which could amplify their power by hundreds of times. However, these attacks are very costly, and require Carolina to sacrifice most all of their defenses, leaving them vulnerable during the attack. Furthermore, these types of attacks are exhausting, and require incredible amounts of energy. Carolina cannot use these attacks frequently. Carolina has created individual names for the uses of her abilities as follows:
 

• "Solid State: Glimmering Shield" - Carolina focuses pressure around her body only, making her skin, flesh, and internal organs as hard as diamond.
• "Solid State: Atmosphere" - Carolina releases some pressure in her body and pushes it outward in a radius around her. It releases an initial heat wave of nearly 1400 Celcius (a little more than 2500 F) in a twenty foot circle around her (this dissipates quickly). Effectively, it creates a gravity field around her that causes most things and people to buckle and break. This lowers her personal defenses.
• "Solid State: Greatest Impact" - Carolina sacrifices all of their defenses and focuses their pressure only into a fist. This amplifies the pressure a great deal, and anything on the receiving end of this punch would do best to flee.
• "Solid State: Starbright" - This is an ability that is not complete and cannot yet be used. Carolina is practicing her pressure conversion and hopes to eventually confine it into a single finger, amplifying it hundreds of times over. So far, each time she's tried, this has caused her unfathomable amounts of pain and agony. They are of the belief that "Starbright" could very well kill them if they ever become strong enough to use it.

The second part of "Pressure Drive" is much simpler. It is a purely defensive state that Carolina reserves for retreat. "Pressure Drive: Gaseous State" releases all of the pressure that Carolina can muster, and breaks them down into a gas-like form. They retain their consciousness and willpower, lose all offensive power, and effectively become intangible (not invulnerable).

Changing between Solid and Gas requires a minimum of sixty seconds.

Sasha is approximately five feet and seven inches tall, about average for a woman her age. The satchel over her eye has many purposes, but she uses it to keep a hideous scar hidden more often than not. Her most frequent attire is a single, long flowing amethyst colored dress and simple black, open toed sandals.

Since she was a girl, Sasha has maintained a green thumb. Her propensity for gardening was perfect, as she found out at a young age. Sasha's ability were discovered to be plant related, and fit her very well. Raised by a middle-class family, Sasha was fortunate to have her gifts nurtured by her parents. With access to a rooftop garden, she quickly learned to accentuate her natural love of plant-life with her ability. In her teen years, she focused on creating food for family, friends, neighbors, and even opened her own summer stalls with which she gave away flowers and plants for free, asking only donations in return.

As her power developed, Sasha was approached by people all across Scarlett City with requests for bouquets, decorative house plants, and even assistance with agricultural development. Sasha had an intense desire to share her gift with others, and when she was approached with requests, she often jumped at the chance to help someone. Her most prized project was the beautification of her high school as a sophomore. Even her classmates would make requests of Sasha, though not always with the best intentions. Though Sasha had a green thumb, she was still young and naive. Relishing in her popularity, she sometimes fulfilled requests without thinking. Some such incidents that got her into trouble included self-growing marijuana plants for classmates. But this would not be the last time this kind of request would return to bite her.

In her senior year of high school at age seventeen, Sasha met with someone she believed to be a college recruiter. Though there were only two in the city, Sasha was sure this recruiter had her best interest at heart. Their credentials certainly appeared to be real, and Sasha wasn't going to pass up what could be an opportunity for her to further education and use her ability to its greatest potential. To secure her invitation to this particular college, Sasha was asked to fulfill a simple request: grow a ten-field acre of poppies and maintain their integrity over the course of the coming winter. In exchange, she would be paid for the harvest and be given a full-ride scholarship.

For Sasha, this was not much of a challenge. Though it seemed too easy, Sasha's rose-tinted glasses kept her eyes forward on the prize. She was given a destination to plant the poppies and even a car that would take her too and from the growth facility at her request. Sasha gladly obliged and oversaw the project for approximately five months. In the end, the poppies she grew were beautiful and more potent than any poppy that had been grown in over twenty years.

Unfortunately for Sasha, this was the beginning of her downfall. She was paid handsomely for her work and was handed supporting documentation for her efforts, with her college of choice having its name branded at the very top. Once she was escorted home and told the good news to her parents, they were all overjoyed to hear.

Seventy-two hours later, there was a banging at her door that startled their family. Police were front and center with a warrant for her arrest for the illegal production of poppies and their use in making illegal drugs. She was immediately arrested and sent to jail, completely perplexed. She sat in a cell for three days without making bail, because the money she received was confiscated and her parents could not fund the entirety of her bail. When her trial was arranged, she was set to be in prison for fifteen years. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, and there was nothing she or her parents could do about it.

Sasha served her first two years in jail with regular visitation from her parents. Their names had been sullied because of her arrest, her beautification project at her high school had been completely revamped by a different company with her name removed from the work, and her family's debt soon began to skyrocket.

To make matter worse, Sasha was not a great fighter, and she was picked on and bullied constantly in prison. One such bullying incident occurred when Sasha's cellmate got into a scrap with her, demanding Sasha hand over her food. When Sasha refused, her hair was grabbed, her face smashed into her plate, and the right side of her face and her right eye were sliced badly with a rusty razor. Sasha could only whimper away and pull her pillow to her face until she was treated for her injuries. She was nineteen and full of resentment. When she later looked at the hideous scars on her face, she recoiled in disgust. To make matters worse, she had gone partially blind in her wounded eye. She tore apart her pillowcase and tied the ripped fabric around her wounded face.

Over the next three years, Sasha learned the ropes of the prison and learned to fight. Sasha traded out her filthy pillowcase for a leather strap with she cut out an eye-hole of for her face. She vowed to make anyone who crossed her, "as ugly as I am". Her parents visitations slowly came to a stop, and Sasha stopped looking forward to seeing them. "They couldn't stand to see my face, I guess," she would shrug. The only thing that Sasha still had was her ability. She left a single healthy rose in the window of her cell, and it was the only thing left in the world that she still cared about. She turned her spare time to studying in the library, all while secretly practicing the production of extremely toxic and deadly flora. Word of her imprisonment eventually reached the Moray Clan who understood just how much potential Sasha had, and how useful she could be to their cause. They quickly broke her out of prison and gave her a place to stay and to belong. What's more, they provided her with work and helped her to master her abilities down to a microbial level. The icing on the cake was a replacement for the leather strap over her head.

The sisters gifted Sasha with piece of tech that fully restored her eyesight and wasn't terribly unfashionable. It wasn't the most beautiful thing, but she tolerated it.

Now, Sasha's only remaining loyalty was to the Moray Clan. Being in their ranks for five years, Sasha had developed a new outlook on the world. She believes she understands the ugliness of Scarlett City and she detests it. False idols, harmful ideologies, broken promises, and lies compounded with more lies. The Moray Clan, however, hadn't lied to her. They hadn't presented themselves to be someone or something that they weren't. Not only had they rescued her, but they weren't... ugly. The Moray Clan was beautiful, and she would do anything to see it prosper.

The only thing she was missing was a name for her ability. She couldn't just call it "green thumb". That name wasn't beautiful. It had mean to something. It had to have purpose. At last, she settled on a name for her power.

"I think I'll call it, 'Aconitum'," she thought aloud to herself over a glass of tea. "Yes. Just like the plant".

Sasha still maintains some small semblance of her former self. Now and again, she'll find herself swimming in hope. During the course of her imprisonment, her hope was twisted into something much more sinister. Furthered by the resentment she harbored for her parents, the "recruiter" who tricked her, her lack of justice, her time spent in prison, and her mauled face, Sasha could only focus on making those around her beautiful again. She was obsessed with scrubbing out the 'ugliness' of Scarlett City, by any means necessary.

She was still passionate about helping those less fortunate than she. She still sought to feed those who could not feed themselves. But she saw the ugliness that caused their suffering. Scarlett City was swollen with pus-filled parasites that disgusted her. Her drive to scrub out anything she deemed ugly made her dangerous.

Little things still sometimes glimmer in her eyes. The innocence of children. The adrenaline of love. The excitement of discovering something new. There was still beauty in the city that needed to be uplifted. But the only way to appreciate it, in Sasha's mind, was to erase everything else.

"Aconitum" (uh-kaa-nuh-tm)

Aconitum has different effects and takes different forms.

Queen of Poison (Passive) - Sasha is immune to poisons of all kinds.

Infestation (Passive) - Sasha releases spores into the air. Any biological thing these spores come into contact with will become infected with a powerful virus that will slowly become more dangerous over time.

• Seedling (Passive) - the first of three stages in the virus' development. It causes fatigue, dehydration, headaches, and dizziness. The virus requires two minutes to reach this stage.
• Flowering (Passive) - the second of three stages in the virus' development. The victim will notice changes in their biology, such as waxy skin, sudden abnormal growths and lesions on their flesh, and a constant craving for sugar. Furthermore, a rise in body temperature and increased blood pressure follow immediately. The virus requires five minutes to reach this stage.
• Bloom (Passive) - the third and final stage in the virus' development. The victim's body begins to undergo involuntary transformation, as their biological code is re-written. Their body struggles to function as a human being with the needs of a plant and the illness of stage four cancer patient. The virus clogs their arteries with sugar and salt and causes a string of heart palpitations. Finally, at death, their flesh wilts like a plant and they become one with the earth again.

Angel Dust (Passive) - instead of spores, in a much smaller area, Sasha releases pheromones around her. They are not poisonous and will not cause harm. Instead, the victim enters a state of confusion and has an increased desire to be vulnerable with Sasha. They are more likely to tell the truth, more likely to admit to past traumas and fears, and are usually more easily persuaded. The pheromones are most potent after five minutes, and wear off after five and a half minutes.

Aconitum: Flurry - Sasha spreads her hands and arms forward with her fingers apart, and releases five poison darts from a hole in either hand. Each of the ten darts is infected with poison.

Aconitum: Living Thornbush - Sasha lobs a number of seeds around her. These seeds rapidly grow into tall thornbushes with prickly barbs. They are sentient, are eight feet tall, and have limbs like most humans. Their favorite tactic is to surround a target and smother them to death while simultaneously gore them with the many barbs on their leaves.

Aconitum: Venus Flytrap - Sasha reaches deep into the roots of the earth to birth a gigantic Venus Flytrap beneath her target's feet. It is large enough to swallow most commercial businesses, and contains a potent acid that will easily melt organic material and metal. She cannot use more than one at a time. This ability is very taxing and cannot be used frequently.

Aconitum: Stranglehold - Sasha extends roots from her pores and anchors herself in place. Then, she recklessly calls forth a whirlwind of vines that are covered in sticky sap. They're as thick as tree trunks and have a wide reach. Once a vine has wrapped its way around a target, Sasha will begin to reel them in.