Editing Damsel of Distress (section)

==History==
===Background===
Ashley [[Trigger Event|triggered]] in 2004, at 13 years old, when she tried to save her mother from being beaten to death by her enraged father and was backed into a corner, surrounded by chaos. With her new uncontrolled power, she killed her father and, accidentally while checking on her, her mother. Her trigger event affected her emotionally on a fundamental level, and she fled her former home with whatever she could carry and not accidentally obliterate.<ref name="DoD CS:B">'''BACKGROUND'''<br/>After triggering and killing her father, Ashley rushed to her mother's side, only to inadvertently kill the woman with her uncontrolled power.  There were no screams or tears.  Only a quiet horror that settled so deep inside that it affected her on a fundamental level.  Ashley took what belongings she could pack without accidentally destroying them, then fled home.  She spent some time going from the streets of her hometown to major cities nearby, attempting to break into the cape scene as gang leader or mercenary, only to fail and get forced out.  She has big dreams of running a city and ascending to greatness, but not the ability to see those dreams through. - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y9EM6krS6MfQy04IJYNkIKRri5jMpHaOTAvvSegpmgI/ Damsel of Distress Character Sheet BACKGROUND]</ref><ref name="x.1">[[Eclipse x.1]]</ref>

Ashley spent years of her life on the streets trying to make it into the cape scene in a large city like Boston, but she lacked the ability to see those dreams through and failed to do so multiple times.<ref name="DoD CS:B"/><ref name="R1"/>

===[[Boston Games]]===
At the start of Boston Blowback, Damsel, age 16<ref name="x.2">They would be frustrated, realizing that for all their vast resources, they had been trumped by a sixteen year old girl. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/05/27/eclipse-x-2/ Excerpt] from [[Eclipse x.2]]</ref>, was laying relatively low in the small town of Stafford, New Hampshire, where she was observed, annoyed and taken care of by [[Edict]] and [[Licit]], the only other [[parahumans]] in the town, stationed there specifically for that purpose by [[Director Armstrong]].<ref name="x.1"/><ref name="Eclipse6week">At least once a week, every week for the two years we’ve been keeping an eye on you - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/05/31/eclipse-x-6/ Excerpt] from [[Eclipse x.6]]</ref>

Once rumors about Boston's situation reached her, she immediately headed there and tried to carve a piece of the underworld out for herself.

During the first three weeks of the Boston Games, Damsel enjoyed her relative successes. However, once [[Accord]]'s plans truly kicked in within her region, she was left reeling and defeated. At that moment she turned to an earlier [[PRT]] offer from Director Armstrong, where his desire to recruit her was made clear. Unfortunately, he made a mistake that pushed Damsel into a tantrum of paranoid rage. She fled the city, feeling lesser than before.<ref name="Eclipse7">[[Eclipse x.7]]</ref>
<!--it looks like maintaining the composure now
She had an amazing time there, even if things did not turn out the way she wanted.<ref>“Would’ve been in Boston.  The slang term in the ‘scene’ was the Boston Games.”<br/><br/>Ashley smiled for the first time.<br/><br/>For the rest of the room, I explained, keeping half of an eye on Mrs. Yamada, to make sure I wasn’t overstepping.  “A series of arrests in Boston saw a shift in the power balance of local gangs.  That’s a pretty common thing, but the Protectorate team followed up on it hard, toppling just about every major and most minor gangs and villains in the city, leaving a void that was bigger than usual.  Villains of every power level and stripe flocked to the city, villains in neighboring cities had a vested interest in having a foothold there as a place to retreat to or a place to expand, and it became an entangled nightmare of villain politics and power plays.”<br/><br/>“Time of my life,” Ashley said.<br/><br/>“Heroes, like the PRT, and like my family’s team, followed, to try and keep the peace until things settled.  My family’s team was Lady Photon, Manpower, Flashbang, Brandish, Lightstar and Fleur.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2017/12/23/flare-2-5/ Excerpt] from [[Flare 2.5]]</ref-->

===Story Start===
Eventually Damsel of Distress retreated back into Stafford. She holed up in a warehouse between her periodic trips into other cites. She had her amenities paid for by the PRT, something she paid no attention to.<ref name="R2">Damsel of Distress. Triggered at a young age, and is currently a mentally unbalanced supervillain without a proper home or secret identity. Has a short-range blaster power with brutal recoil, which she has learned to use in a limited mover capacity. Suffers from power incontinence that kicks in to produce blasts when using her hands for simple tasks like eating or dressing herself, and the aforementioned mental problems, with megalomania and the compulsion to grind her enemies into the dirt and monologue at them rather than finish them off. Dangerous, scary, but effectively kept down and out by the aforementioned pair and by her being her own worst enemy. Conducts periodic nocturnal raids for food and supplies (with PRT-provided insurance reimbursing more than enough for lost goods), keeps to her own, and only really causes problems when the stars align in a certain way, once every eight to twelve months - she gets restless and talks herself into something, or local hooligans think that being her henchmen is a ticket to money, giving her resources to work with, and she decides to rob a bank or pick a fight. Fighting Edict and Licit is frustrating and humiliating, however, and that really chafes with her overblown sense of pride, so she usually keeps her head down for a long while after trying something. The only other real problem is when she decides to find her way to another city or region, such as going to Boston and trying to make a name for herself. This is largely why the PRT office and the two local capes keep tabs on her - to head her off and to let others know what's going on and how best to handle it.<br/><br/>Given Damsel's lack of life experience, she doesn't think to question why the building she's squatting in has power, water, and cable hooked up to it - one of a dozen small things the local office looks after to keep her comfortable and pacified. The individuals in the local office maintain regular correspondence with other offices (mainly the Boston department) and, given that they think they can turn her to the side of good with time, allowing her to develop some maturity, or catching her in the right mood on the right day, they mostly minimize the danger she poses and approach her now and again to try coaxing her or plant the idea of becoming a hero in her mind. - [https://redd.it/42tso6 Another comment by Wildbow on Reddit]</ref><ref name="16.y e1"/>

At this point [[Licit]] and [[Edict]] mostly leave her alone, and do not seek face-to-face interaction.<ref name="Eclipse8"/>

===Post-[[Slaughterhouse Nine]]===
When they left [[Brockton Bay]], the remaining members of the [[Slaughterhouse Nine]] went to recruit her. Despite being reluctant and covertly antagonistic, she was manipulated into joining. As compromise, Nine offered her an opportunity to act-out a festering grudge.<ref name="Eclipse8"/>

As Ashley correctly suspected, [[Bonesaw]] converted her into one of her "toys" by taking out her ability to speak and further weaponizing her arms, while keeping them as inconvenient as before.<ref name="Eclipse8"/>

With these newly upgraded powers, Damsel was able to easily cut her way through Accord mansion and two of his [[Ambassadors]].<ref name="Eclipse8"/><ref name="I19.x e1">There was a crash, and he nearly jumped out of his skin. He wheeled around.<br/><br/>The woman with the black dress had slammed into the television set. She had holes in her as though she were a piece of Swiss cheese, and more of her had been torn to shreds.<br/><br/>A body fell down the stairs. The man with the lizard mask. Dead, though not so mutilated.<br/><br/>The woman who came down the stairs had an unusual body type accented by her style of dress. She was almost like a boy, she was so thin, and her strapless dress hugged her upper body, but the lower half billowed around her. Her hair was long and white, her eyes wide with irises and pupils small. Her lips had been painted black.<br/><br/>Her arms though… machinery had been crammed into the arms, and they’d been extended to nearly twice the length, the fingers drawn out long. Sparks flew as the woman moved one arm, and she winced.<br/><br/>[...]<br/><br/>“Damsel of Distress, with some modifications by yours truly. Damsel for short. Better at controlling her power now.”<br/><br/>“Hi Damsel.”<br/><br/>Damsel looked at him, spoke in a whisper he couldn’t make out. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/interlude-19-donation-bonus-1/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 19.x]]</ref> In her confrontation with [[Blasto]], [[Colin Wallis|Defiant]] killed his fellow cyborg, blinding the villainess with a swipe of his halberd and then bisecting her using [[nano-thorn]]s he installed in his own artificial limbs, disintegrating her head and shoulder.<ref name="I19.x e2">The man reached the bottom of the stairs, turned his head to survey the scene. He wore a visor that combined the movable visor of a knight’s helm with a high-tech equivalent, and the points where they met his helmet were shaped like a lizard’s frill or a dragon’s wing. He held out a rod in one hand, and it unfolded into a spear of ridiculous length.<br/><br/>The lizard theme… if the machines Rey had seen fighting the Slaughterhouse Nine were Dragon’s, was this one of her assistants? Someone working under her?<br/><br/>Or her?<br/><br/>Damsel wheeled around, extended one hand, but the man in armor was quick to step around a pillar for cover. Damsel’s power ripped into the pillar, warping and tearing space in a chaotic storm.<br/><br/>The man in armor ducked and rolled to reach the next piece of cover, one of the stainless steel desks. He arrested his momentum with one outstretched arm, then kicked the desk with both feet. It slammed into Damsel.<br/><br/>He hopped onto his feet in a single movement, slashing with the spear’s point. The tip struck Damsel across the eyes, blinding her. He reversed the spear and swung it, and the spear-butt caught her in the side of the head. She was knocked down onto all fours before she could direct her power at him again.<br/><br/>The man dug the spear’s point into the ground to help propel himself towards her. His leg flared with a gray blur as he reached her, and be brought it down onto her back from above.<br/><br/>It sheared through her as though she weren’t even there, cutting her in half. He kicked out to obliterate her head and one of her shoulders in a single movement, disabled the gray blur, and set his foot down with a thud that rang through the underground laboratory. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/interlude-19-donation-bonus-1/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 19.x]]</ref><ref name="Cast2"/>

===Post-[[Timeskip]]===
During the several months that Bonesaw spent trying to clone members of the Slaughterhouse Nine, she made several attempts with Damsel, including a version of her that had triggered far too young to be of much use.<ref name="I25"/>

Several clones of Damsel were successfully made for the [[the Slaughterhouse Nine-Thousand|Slaughterhouse Nine-Thousand]], incorporating some psychological tweaking to ensure loyalty,<ref name="I25"> - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/07/16/interlude-25/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 25]]</ref> and physiological tweaking to ensure toughness.<ref>She’d been shot in the ribcage, along to the side, and one of her arms had been clipped.  Flesh was burned and raw, ribs in one spot exposed and blackened.<br/><br/>“Small graces,” she said.  “Bonesaw built me durable.”<br/><br/>“More durable than a human?”<br/><br/>“Reinforcements here and there,” she said.  She winced at the pain.  “She removed most of it because it wasn’t meant to last.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/07/20 Excerpt] from [[Dying 15.5]]</ref>

Seven of these clones died ranting and raving in the best style of their predecessor.<ref>“I thought I’d go out screaming and ranting, sick and hating myself for it.  I did… every other time except the first…” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/08/10 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 15.z II]]</ref> Two of the remaining Damsels were forced to surrender.<ref name="Eclipse8"/>

===[[Gold Morning]]===
Two surviving instances of Damsel were located when [[Khepri]] took [[Rise of Khepri|control]] of the remaining parahumans in an attempt to end [[Gold Morning]].<ref>I found members of Bonesaw’s Slaughterhouse Nine.  Clones who’d fled, or who’d been left behind, lurking in dark corners, or simply hiding.  A Mannequin, two Damsels that were keeping each other company, a Night Hag-Nyx hybrid, and a Crawler-Breed hybrid. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/speck-30-4/ Excerpt] from [[Speck 30.4]]</ref>

===Post-[[Gold Morning]]===
Someone else [[Mangled Wings|named Ashley]] was seen in [[The City]] built on the other side of Armageddon.