CatsCradle
tracker/scout (Cybertron)
Research & Exploration (Earth)
Alt mode: B2 Spirit
OFFICIAL FILE:
CatsCradle appeared out of nowhere, a mystery to herself and others. She remembers very little before she became a Decepticon, but she harbors a deep hatred for Autobots with no recollection as to why. Her tracking abilities are an asset in many situations, from scouting out an unfamiliar area, to tracking down a targeted individual. Her calm and quiet mannerisms enable her to stay focused, in either solo or group missions, although her stubborn tendencies sometimes keep her on a project past necessity or prudence. Her slight build and armoring, which is an asset in recon missions, are not well suited for heavy combat, and so she is best paired with a larger ally to do the brunt of the fighting while she uses her extreme agility to dart in, disable, and dart out again. Her weapon of choice is a katana-type sword that she carries in an old-fashioned sling on her back. Her fingers are also tipped with claws. She is able to weave a net of energy between her hands (thus her name), which can be used as a protective forcefield, or as an entanglement if she casts it over an opponent or prey that she is tracking. She finds heavy ranged weapons a hindrance, but she has twin laser mountings that fold out from her forearms. Because she knows she is not suited for heavy fighting, she has honed her shooting skills and also is useful as a sniper. Her largest liability is her amnesia, which is a huge emotional weakness for her.
UNOFFICIAL:
The only thing Cats remembers besides her almost-instinctual fighting skills and hatred for Autobots is a paralyzing sense of horror. She was living almost wild on the streets of Cybertron, insignia-less, damaged from some unknown trauma, and almost starving from lack of energon. She has no idea how long she lived this way, as her systems were too damaged to keep track.
One day, she saw a Decepticon and Autobot fighting and, despite that the only functional weapons she had were her claws, she leapt out of the shadows and tore the Autobots throat out. The Decepticon took her back to the camp, where she went through repairs to everything except her memory. This was not long before the Star Drive and the Ark left on their mission.
Cats memory files are intact and the relays repairable, but she is so terrified at the sense of horror that haunts her, that she absolutely refuses (to the point of panic) to have them repaired. Her lack of history and her refusal to provide one has made rising through the ranks difficult, as she has to rely entirely on the present. Her skills have gotten her as far as she is, but there is always that unknown background. She is prone to nightmares, because the memories are there, just not consciously accessible.
She will function on little sleep, because of the nightmares. She is also wary around any type of medical personnel, because they are always trying to convince her to have her memory repaired. She is terrified one day the repairs will be done while she is unconscious and without her consent. If she cannot find a medic she trusts, shes more likely to limp away and hope her own internal diagnostics will take over the healing process.
Cats is... unobtrusive. She tends to blend in, do her job, and blend out again, whether it is on a solo or group mission. This ability to blend is one reason why she is a good tracker. After all, it would be rather difficult to track down someone in hiding, if the tracker was loud and flashy.
She is uncomfortable around new people, because she is self-conscious about her lack of history. She spent the 4 million years the Ark was buried on Earth in active duty, so she actually does have a history of her own, but emotionally, she has a hard time accepting that. She doesnt mean to appear aloof -- she actually has a quirky sense of humor, but it sometimes takes a while for that to appear. She has spent so long surrounded by combat mechs who have paid very little attention to her, that she has become used to being ignored and unnoticed
She is very loyal to anyone she does accept as a friend, both protective and supportive. She is very dedicated to whatever mission shes assigned, sometimes to the point of obsessing. She has had to prove herself so many times, that she cant get out of the habit, even though it isnt as necessary now as it was when she was a nameless, damaged femme from the back streets of Cybertron.
For the most part, her ability to blend enables her to interact with others fairly well. However, she is very sensitive to remarks about her loss of memory. She is afraid of people finding out just how scared she is to remember, or about her nightmares, because either are weaknesses. She is running from these fears in a society that disdains running, so she fiercely tries to compensate.
She also does get snappish when shes over-tired, which happens more often during the times when the nightmares are more worse than others, as she will try to function on as little sleep as possible.
DESCRIPTION:
25ft tall, light build. Armor midnight-purple. Face, hands, armor trim silver-grey. Pink accent band around helmet edge. Insignia on left upper arm. Claw tips on all fingers. Carries sword in sling over back. Optics dark purple. The wings from her jet mode form a sort of half cape, to mid-back. Her jet mode is similar to a B2 Spirit.
STATS:
Strength: 5
Endurance: 5
Agility: 9
Intelligence: 7
Courage: 6
Charisma: 5
Sharp Shooting: 8
Hand-to-hand: 8
Tech: 2
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Stealth, forcefield (in both modes)
WEAPONS:
Sword, lasers (mounted in wrist-cuff armor), forcefield (entanglement net), claws.
Will also occassionally use laser rifle, although does not prefer to carry one around. Used only for sniper missions.
Her cats cradle entanglement net/forcefield takes quite a bit of energy, and is powered by the same force that powers her lasers. The shield is good for one round, but will also leave her lasers unpowered until the energy builds up again.
GOALS:
Personal:
Cats is probably not going to be able to find any peace until she deals with her amnesia. On a deep inner level, she knows this. But she cant bring herself to admit it yet, and she might not ever be able to. She has been running from her memories for well over four million years -- acceptance is not going to happen any time soon. But she longs for some type of inner balance, and doesnt know how to achieve it.
Decepticon Cause:
The Empire was the only thing she had. With no history to define her, she threw herself into the cause, for something to believe in, to live for, to create her own personality around. It really is all shes ever known, except for the time she lived as a street-scavenger. And as long as she is so devoted to the cause, that is that much of her that isnt lost in those vanished memories.
Her hatred of the Autobots is a deeply emotional reaction, more than any specific political reason, and the reasoning behind that is also lost in those vanished memories.
Amendment (after end of first
season, four months into the game)
Cats spent millions of years, rarely emerging from her shadows. After so many years of suspicion and lack of trust, revolving around her refusal to have her memory repaired, she simply became used to it. It was a type of protective camouflage, surrounded by mistrust and supported by her constant fear that someday she would be ordered to face her lost memories.
When Megatron re-emerged, her world changed. As the word went out that the Decepticon leader was alive and well, other Decepticons returned after their long absences. One of these was the last survivor of the Diplomatic Corp, Diktat. Diktat didnt quite play by the same rules as everyone else, and the stigma that surrounded Cats never seemed to phase him. He was the first to draw her out of her corners, the first one who not only would talk to her but also listen to her. He was under the opinion that if Cats had indeed been an Autobot plant, it would have surfaced millions of years ago. Cats knew some of Diktats reputation, knew that she should be terrified of the wily diplomat, with his beautiful words backed with his subliminal programming, but the meeting changed her life and brought her out of the shadows permanently.
Shortly after that, Diktat approached her with the news that he was reviving the Diplomatic Corp, and that he was considering her for membership. And shortly after that, the warlord Straxus had her transferred to his command for specialized training for his covert operations team. Cats threw herself into the training, seeing opportunities for the first time that she never thought shed ever be offered.
Then the first real communication from Earth arrived in the form of Divefire, bringing news of the troops on Earth and a shipment of energon. The dark and brooding Seeker-derivative brought out a sense of mischief and laughter in Cats that she didnt know she had, and that laughter brought a light into Divefires life that had been missing for eons. Their souls touched.... and Divefire was sent back to Earth.
Cats was devastated. For the first time in her life, she had had a focus, a direction in her life: the covert ops team and a chance at the elite Diplomatic Corp. But Divefire had made it plain that he did not approve of either Straxus or Diktat... and also that Cybertron held bad memories for him, and that he did not want to remain on the only home Cats remembered.
However, the bond between them proved to be stronger than distance. Divefire was a department of his own on Earth, researching and exploring the new planet, and he told Cats that there would be use for her on this new world. He had asked her before to come to Earth with him, and she had refused. This time, she put aside her Cybertronian life and came to Earth as the second member of Earth Research and Exploration, a completely new function on a new planet, and a new life.
