Hope "Zero" Townsend [Bionic]

HOPE TOWNSEND,

this is gospel for the fallen ones

Zero may seem like an ice queen, but it typically just depends on her first impressions of someone. She may be private and standoff-ish at first, but that's to be expected when most of the world discriminates against cyborgs. She just wants to know your stance and opinion of them before she will begin to trust and open up. Zero enjoys meeting people, especially those who can give her jobs and tasks to complete. She's almost always working. It helps her keep her mind off of things. Her past wasn't the best and she'd rather not have to think about it. Despite being a cyborg now, she still carries her conventional beliefs from when she was a human. Magi are below her, and though she'd probably never do any harm to one or kill like a lot of humans do, she openly detests talking to one. But she has felt enough societal backlash from humans who discriminate against cyborgs that her beliefs are starting to loosen up a little.

When you've befriended her or at least been made an ally, she is protective and generally a pleasant person. She's not particularly kind, nor mean, but somewhere in between. She isn't the type of person to raise her voice or become violent if she is angered. It's hard to get her truly angry, but don't test her patience. She may have a lot of it, but everyone will snap eventually if pushed. Zero can go full "mama bear" mode on someone if they are hurting someone she cares for. When she makes connections with people, she does not take those connections lightly. There's a reason Zero wants you in her life, and she'll do her best to make sure that nothing happens to you. Typically not very talkative, but she's a great listener. If there's ever anything wrong, she can definitely be the sort of person you can rely on and lean on.

Tall, curvaceous and toned are what most people notice at first. Blonde hair pours down her back with varying lengths scattered throughout. It is mostly seen pulled back into a high ponytail, with a fringe and long pieces kept at the side of her face. Her hair is one of her favorite parts about her, and so she takes very good care of it. It is soft and has a healthy shine. She only wishes it weren't so straight.

Her skin is something she also tries to take care of. Her dealings with mechanics and repairs of machinery are often dirty jobs. She is used to getting oil on her arms and face, even on her clothing at times. But when she goes home for the day, she makes sure to take a good shower and scrub her body clean. Her fair skin is prone to dryness at times, but pampering herself after a shower is usually the best trick to fix that.

Born with baby blue eyes, they are a feature that she has come to dislike for only one reason. The accident left her right eye damaged beyond repair, and so it was removed and replaced with a cybernetic eye. It is nearly identical to her other eye at a distance, but if you are to stand close and really gaze at her, something may seem off. It was difficult to match the color exactly, and so her prosthetic eye is darker than her natural eye.

For a woman, Zero is very tall. She is close to six feet and has the body to match. She's on the heavier side but it shows in all of the right places. Graced with an hourglass figure, but yet years of physical labor have tightened her up. She has powerful legs, a strengthened core and an arm that can pack a punch.

Her eye is not the only cybernetic part on her body. Her arm, from the elbow and down, is all made of metal. One interesting feature of her arm is that her hand is detachable at the wrist, and she has had several custom attachments made for it. All of them assist with her mechanics and repair work. For instance, she has a couple different wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers, among other things.

When she was a student at the Runic University, she had Runic Tattoo on the back of her hand. Due to her losing her status as a Runic University student, and losing her Runic magic, her tattoo was taken from her. Because she had worked so hard for it, she did not want it to be forgotten and so as a memento, she got a traditional tattoo that resembles her old Fortify tattoo. She also has a tattoo of Seal above her breast, which she got on a drunken night after a very bad break-up. The suit she wears when she is working on things has been specially crafted to glow in those areas, plus a spot on her back. Why? She just think's it's pretty cool.


Zero is aware that she is attractive, but you wouldn't think it with the way that she dresses. Only on the very rare occasion will she wear a dress, and it has to be a very special occasion at that. Her casual clothes include comfortable jersey-knit tee-shirts and tank tops with a light-weight blazer or bomber jacket over the top. She likes all styles of jeans, whether they're skinny or bootcut, ripped up or cropped. She also enjoys utility pants that have a lot of pockets (it's a lot easier to store her tools and interchangable parts) and oftentimes wears a thick belt. Comfortable shoes are a must for her, and that usually means any sort of boot. As for accessorizing, she'll wear necklaces when she is not at work, and sometimes rings on multiple fingers. Comfortable, casual clothing is usually what's in her closet. For work, she wears a skin-tight body suit that covers her from neck to toe... even her fingers. It is made with sturdy, heat-resistant material so that she can accidentally touch a hot piece of metal and not be burned too badly. It also helps protect her cybernetic arm, though a slot is cut out at the wrist so that she can switch out the parts.

Parents
Mother: Cecelia Townsend, née Rivers (estranged)
Father: Angelo Townsend (deceased)

Siblings
Half-Sibling that she has never met. She doesn't even know if it is a half-sister or half-brother.


- - ADOLESCENCE - -
Before there was Hope, there was Cecelia and Angelo. Their relationship was one that was always full of tension. Cecelia was born into a very well-to-do family and she had her fair share of imperfections. She was a bratty woman who believed everything should be handed to her; it was because of her upbringing that she thought this way. Whatever she wanted, she got, whether she worked for it or not. Her family was also the stereotypical human; racist, elitist, overall nasty.

Angelo was a meek and gentle man. He would bow his head down and simply oblige, because that was love. He was a gracious man who led a humble life, barely grazing the middle of society. He worked hard for what he had and what he wanted; and that included Cecelia.

Cecelia's family had arranged for her to marry someone who was definitely more acceptable than an average man who worked for Terra Nova. He was a prestigious man who would fit snugly into her life without causing a chink in her chain; but her rebellious streak was a mile wide and to throw a wrench in their plans made her absolutely wild with excitement. When Angelo found he was set up for a promotion in Felici, Cecelia took her opportunity to run away with him and start her life over.

She never did love him the way she should have. But despite that, the two had a child very early on, which is one of the reasons Cecelia stayed with Angelo once her life started to become boring again. Hope became the reason she found excitement in life, which is not a reason why you should have a child. A child should be borne out of love, not boredom. Even as a child, Hope knew her mother was not one to revere.

Her father, however, was a different story. She was the apple of his eye and the two were very close. When Hope was able to spend time with him when he was not at work, the pair would do everything together. He showed her the city and all its hidden gems. He had an antique motorcycle collection, a machine that was very popular a long time ago. All she knew was that they went fast~ He would take her for rides on his favorite one and they would go all around the city. He allowed her to be a child and have fun, something her mother did not quite understand. She saw Hope as a pawn, something to be controlled. Most parents want the best for their child because it will help their child's future. But Cecelia wanted Hope to be the best so it would make her look good. She pushed Hope to be a good student, a well-behaved machine of a child. Hope's fondness for her mother began to dwindle slowly and honestly, it never truly recovered.

Much of the disdain she felt for her mother began when she started school. There was no excuse for any grade less than a B+ and her mother would punish her harshly if she fell behind or had an inkling of her daughter losing focus. Angelo would be the comfort and care that Hope needed. He would allow her to have sleepovers with her friends, because that's what little girls wanted to do more than study. Hope would start to notice that her parents fought a lot, but she was too young to understand those adult matters.

If anything positive came from her mother's authoritarianism, it was her work ethics. Already a smart girl, her mother only pushed her to become smarter. She easily surpassed most of her fellow classmates when it came to testing. She was placed into advanced classes in her high school and was set up for a future full of success. You could imagine her mother was most proud. She had even begun to pressure Angelo into having another child so she could repeat this success yet again. But whether he was unable to or simply didn't want to, Hope would never know because her mother left her life when she was seventeen. Cecelia had had an affair with another man, multiple times in fact, and when she finally became pregnant with his child, she left Angelo. Hope never saw her mother again.

- - RUNIC LIFE - -
Throughout all of the drama with her mother and father, Hope developed a competitive streak, perhaps through her mother's constant nagging to be the best and the greatest. Her poor father, as meek and humble as he was, continued to rise in his ranks at his company, which was why he was supportive of Hope's decision to enroll in the (expensive and prestigious) Runic University... even though he clearly favored technology rather than magic. But the Runic University was the most sought-after education and would look great for her future. Hope got accepted quite readily and moved out of her childhood home to be closer to the school.

She had close to the typical University life. Her new home became the dormitories on campus, which she very rarely left. The skills her mother had pushed into her became quite apparent; she was studious and worked hard. Though humble like her father, she did not push her success in other the other students' faces. She was a silent threat, rising slowly to the top without making a grand fuss.

The average student takes about four years to even get to Novice level. Hope only took two. In that time frame, she worked the hardest she ever had before. She lost sleep. She oftentimes didn't eat. Her roommates would yell at her for leaving the desk lamps on at all hours of the night, even if they were trying to sleep. Perhaps it dug into her sanity. Perhaps she should have let herself rest before making the biggest mistake of her life.

In another year, she had made it to Apprentice level. All of her hard work and (literal) blood, sweat and tears had turned into a physical reward; she was given a Runic Tattoo so signify her success. She chose Chazaq - Fortify to remind herself to always do the best she can, to have strength even in times when she felt weak. The tattoo was etched into the skin on the back of her hand, a place that she'd always see so she'd always be reminded.

Her success was very short-lived. Perhaps it wouldn't have been had she been a better judge of character; a better and more stable person. Those years of studying had taken a toll on her character, and she had a lapse in judgement. She left her ink on her desk; her sacred, private ink that only she should have ever been able to use. She left the door to her room wide open; she only thought she'd be gone for a moment. That moment was a moment too long.

Whatever she left her room to do was not even important. Whatever it was that she was doing, she stopped in the middle after feeling a sense of dread. Something was not right and she could feel it in her gut. She rushed back to her room, where she saw a younger student dip their brush into her ink and begin to stroke. The dread amplified into terror and she had lunged at them, attempting to wrestle the brush from their hands before anything could happen.

Then her world went blank.

- - A NEW LIFE - -
When she opened her eyes, she immediately realized that one side was still dark. Panicking, she began to thrash in the hospital bed, trying to figure out where she was. One arm was heavier than the other. Her body felt as if it were tied down to the bed. There were bandages all over her, and she felt hot. So hot. She wanted to tear the blankets off. She wanted to pull the cords out from her arm. She wanted to sever the wires coming out of her arm--

Wires?

It took Hope a long time to come to terms with her cybernetic appendage. The explosion from the misused ink had taken her arm, as well as her eye, with it. Her father did not know the repercussions involved with such a decision. He only knew that if he didn't do what he chose to do, then he would lose his daughter. Her kind, especially the University, hated cyborgs. They were lesser beings. Not even beings. Hope was no longer a being. Couple that with the fact that the University did not allow cyborgs, which meant she got expelled... Needless to say, she had a hard time coping afterward.

The kid that had stolen her ink did not survive the explosion. Even though it was not her fault that he had used runic ink without the proper training, she still felt responsible since she had left it out. Had she not, none of this would have never happened. She wouldn't have been expelled, she wouldn't be a cyborg and she wouldn't have to live with guilt for the rest of her life.

Honestly, Hope is still trying to come to terms with everything that happened to her.

Not long after she had her limbs replaced with metal, her father began to grow sick. She never knew it, but he used all of his savings and even his high position at Terra Nova to leverage his way into getting those parts for her survival. He did not know that they would work him terribly hard. He did not know that he was already developing health issues that only became worse under stress.

Hope lost her father when she was twenty-four. Three years after her accident. Just when she was starting to feel more like herself... Or as close as she could come to that. At this point, there was zero hope left for her. She had no family to fall back on. She had burned the bridges with her friends at the University after she became a cyborg.

All she had left were the antique motorcycles that she had inherited from her father. Many were in disrepair. A lot of them needed a few parts here, a few parts there. She really had no drive left to do much of anything, so for the hell of it, she tried her hand at fixing her father's machines.

Surprisingly, she found it rather fun.

She decided to start her life over, using the street name "Zero." There are times when she still struggles with her identity, and there are times when she still feels like there's zero hope left for her, but those times are becoming few and far between.

She's just doing the best that she can.

- Recharge Upgrade: The amount of time needed to recharge does not have to be the rough estimate of time needed for humans to sleep (≈ 8 hours per 24 hours). A three to four hours will suffice.

- Convenient Shield: One of your arms can shift itself into a bullet proof shield that is just large enough to protect all of you if you crouch down into the tightest ball you can.

- Translator I: You are now capable to understand multiple languages that have been downloaded into your memory.




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[b]metroid, samus aran[/b] as [i]hope "zero" townsend[/i]