Damsel of Distress

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Damsel of Distress</default></title>

<image source="Image"></image> <image source="image"></image> <group><header>Basic Information</header> <label>Civilian Name</label> <label>Aliases</label> <label>Gender</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Death</label> <label>Age</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Post-timeskip</label> <label>Ward start</label> <label>Relations</label> <label>Family</label></group> <group><header>Professional Status</header> <label>Occupation</label> <label>Classification</label> <label>Unique Features</label> <label>Alignment</label>

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<label>Location</label> <label>Teams</label> <label>Previous Team(s)</label> <label>Base of Operations</label></group> <group><header>First Appearance</header> <label>Worm Debut</label> <label>Ward Debut</label></group> </infobox>

Damsel of Distress was an independent villain first seen operating in the small town of Stafford, New Hampshire.

Personality

Through a combination of childhood trauma and the early activation of her passenger which drove her to be ambitious, fighting to be on top, and sabotages her more when she fails to be, perpetuating (along with the malnutrition) the strings of near-misses<ref name="Reddit1"/>. As the Damsel of Distress she is almost a camp villain. Being narcissistic, megalomaniac, and paranoid the sheer destructive potential she could bring to bear, and the reality of a 'camp' villain willing to murder hostages or blame others for her problems, combined with her drawbacks, made her both scary and pitiable<ref name="Reddit1"/>. Ashley is driven to deliver dramatic monologues for the euphoric effect that comes with the passenger temporarily letting up on the pressure it puts on Ashley to establish her superiority<ref name="Spacebattles1"/>. She is considered mentally unbalanced<ref name="Reddit2"/>.

Her power was somewhat uncontrolled, spiking or 'fritzing' as she got stressed or anxious, and her obsessive personality meant she would get caught in loops where she might accidentally destroy her meal as she was preparing it, then the resulting frustration and anxiety would pop up every time she ate for the next few days. In stubbornness and pride, she would consequently go a week, easily, without really eating<ref name="Reddit1"/>, to avoid the embarrassment of such failures. The same applies to sleep, shelter, company etc<ref name="Spacebattles1"/>.

She was fond of situations where she could use hostages or stalk a target through a cluttered area (blasting through cover and potentially her target)<ref name="Reddit1"/>.

Bonesaw's painful surgical alterations simultaneously broke her pride and gave her control. A cold, ruthless, detached source of obliteration, deserving and giving no pity.<ref name="Reddit1">Comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref><ref name="Spacebattles1"/>

Appearance

Ashley has an unusual body type, years of living on the streets with inconsistent nutrition<ref name="Spacebattles1"/> has left her painfully thin to the point of looking emaciated<ref name="DoD CS"/>. This combined with being taller then average lead to some people thinking she looks boyish<ref name="I19.x"/>. She had long usually unkempt platinum blonde hair and pale blue eyes<ref name="I25"/>. By throwing on some civilian cloths and a hat and keeping her head down she could almost pass as a boy.

When in her identity as Damsel of Distress Asyley usually wore black gowns of varying quality with different combinations of masks and black lipstick<ref name="DoD CS"/>. This combined with her pallor and gaunt appearance this made her both appealing and intimidating, going nicely with the clash between light and dark.

Following Bonesaw's modifications Her arms are twice as long as before with long drawn out fingers, with mechanisms crammed inside of them, allowing her to better control her power<ref name="I19.x"/>.

Powers & Abilities

As the Damsel of Distress, Ashley's power functions similarly to Scrub's though she creates 'storms of unevenly altered gravity, time and space'<ref>16.y (Donation Interlude 2; Defiant)</ref>. Essentially her power chaotically warps reality<ref name="Spacebattles1"/>, producing uncontrolled cone shaped blasts of gravity, space and matter alteration<ref name="Reddit1"/>.

These 'shotgun' bursts ignore most forms of durability<ref name="Reddit1"/>, and are capable of punching through walls causing riping, tearing, twisting, melting, disintegrating and numerous other effects within a cone-shaped 'blast'<ref name="Spacebattles1"/><ref name="list"/>, within a variable range of six to fifteen feet<ref name="Reddit1"/>.

Though able to destroy virtually anything the combination warped space, disintegration and gravity shearing make for a massive amount of recoil whenever she creates such a storm, flinging her back.<ref name="list">Wildbow's Parahuman List</ref><ref name="Reddit1"/><ref name="Spacebattles1"/>. Ashley later learned to use this effect to make her move at high speeds in 10 to 15 foot bursts allowing her to avoiding attacks<ref name="DoD CS"/> and giving her a Mover rating<ref name="list"/>.

While obviously powerful she never had full control<ref name="Spacebattles1"/> being unable to keep her power from spiking or 'fritzing', producing minor flare-ups as she got stressed or anxious<ref name="Reddit1"/> leading to her destroying utensils, food, and other items. Bonesaw gave her the ability to control the power, at the cost of her becoming even more of a monster<ref name="Reddit1"/><ref name="Spacebattles1">Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref>.

History

Background

Ashley tried to intervene when her enraged father was beating her mother, very nearly to death. She fought him with everything she had and could get on hand to try to save her mother despite being a little girl. But she could still do nothing finally backed into a corner surrounded by chaos she triggered. She killed her father with her new uncontrolled power, and while trying to check to see if she was okay, her mother as well.

She sat sessile with silent anguish and sorrow for an indeterminate amount of time as she processed the enormity of what had occurred affecting on a fundamental level. She fled her former home with whatever she could carry and not accidentally obliterate.

Sending years of her life on the streets trying to make it into the cape scene, but failed multiple times. Ashley has big dreams of running a city and ascending to greatness, but not currently have the ability to see those dreams through<ref name="DoD CS">Damsel of Distress Character Sheet</ref>.

Story Start

Fell into a routine

Post-Slaughterhouse Nine

Damsel of Distress was one of the three parahumans operating in the small town of Stafford, New Hampshire that the Slaughterhouse Nine went to following the events in Brockton Bay.<ref name="Reddit2">Another comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

Damsel of Distress has tried to become a notable villain in a big city such as Boston a few times, but never quite being able to cut it, and always having to come back<ref name="Reddit1"/>. She had an ongoing 'feud' with Licit and Edict. Which was part of a long term effort by the PRT to recruit a powerful blaster<ref name="I19.x"/>

Post-Echidna

When they left Brockton Bay, the remaining members of the Slaughterhouse Nine went to recruit her.

Bonesaw made her one of her "toys" by augmenting her arms to give her more control over her powers. With these newly upgraded powers she was able to easily cut her way through several powerful Ambassadors<ref name="I19.x">Interlude 19.x</ref>. In her confrontation with Blasto,

Post-Timeskip

Bonesaw spent several months trying to clone members of the slaughterhouse 9 and made several attempts on Damsel but created a version of her far to young to be of much use<ref name="I25"/>.

Several clones of Damsel were successfully made for the Slaughterhouse Nine-Thousand, with some tweaking to ensure loyalty of course<ref name="I25">Interlude 25</ref>.

Golden Morning

Two surviving instances of Damesel were located when the parahumans started working togather. <ref>Speck 30.4</ref>

References

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