THE WOMEN OF SUPERHEROINE UNIVERSE

by Artnico (translated by Argonaut)

These are translations of three character profiles from Artnico's now defuct site Superheroine Universe.

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UNIVERSE 1

Name: Sara Line

Age: 26

Hair: Brown

Height: 1.69 m (5' 6")

Weight: 62 kg (136 lbs)

Profession: Elementary school teacher

Marital Status: Unmarried, no children

APPEARANCE: Sara is a beautiful brunette with long hair and a generous figure. She's often described as "voluptuous." She used to think that she was a few pounds overweight, but she has come to accept her physique and now considers her curves to be a positive asset. A stylish dresser, she likes to wear short skirts and high heels to show her femininity to best advantage.

BACKGROUND: An elementary school teacher for the past three years, Sara Line leads a quiet life in a small town in central France. But her life changed one evening while she was driving herself home …

Pretty and vivacious, Sara often goes to nightclubs and bars with her friends and co-workers. Her enviable physique has earned her quite a few admirers, but so far none has managed to win her heart. That's why she lives alone. One night, returning home after a particularly wild party, Sara lost control of her car, which plunged into a ravine. The car passed through an intense white light before crashing at the bottom of the ravine. Miraculously, Sara walked away unhurt, without even a scratch. Alive, but completely unaware of what had happened to her, she managed to climb back up the slope and make her way back home.

The next morning, she woke up in her bed with a splitting headache and no memory of how she had gotten home. The only thing she could remember was that she had had an accident. She could recall the car falling into the ravine, and the light, but nothing after that. What Sara didn't know was that her car had passed through a powerful magnetic field – a phenomenon associated with solar activity that goes by the name of "aurora borealis." The chances that a human being might pass through such a field are ten million to one – yet that's exactly what happened to Sara. Several days afterwards, Sara discovered that she had acquired an extraordinary strength, along with near-invulnerability – which explains how she had survived the accident.

For the time being, Sara has chosen to keep her new abilities secret, although they have changed her life considerably. She rarely feels fatigue any longer, and her strength comes in handy in lots of everyday situations. Her powers have also given her greater self-confidence, especially when she's out with her friends, whom she continues to see just as she did before. Proud of her body and its incredible power, Sara sometimes enjoys showing off a tiny fraction of her strength to members of the male sex – who are intrigued by the ease with which the sexy, vivacious young woman can humiliate even the strongest of them at arm-wrestling. But Sara wouldn't dream of letting people know that she can lift a car with one hand! She never uses her full strength except when she's alone, or to help someone secretly. She often goes to secluded places to have fun with her powers and test their limits.

The lovely brunette is still a schoolteacher, because she loves her chosen career above all else, but her new powers have made her wonder about her future. Should she continue to keep them secret to avoid drawing attention to herself? Or will the day come when she'll decide to use them openly for the benefit of others – or herself?

PERSONALITY: Sara is a lively, intelligent, warm-hearted young woman. She's always ready to help her friends, who praise her kind nature and her overflowing vitality. Ironically, that vitality has earned her the nickname "Wonder Woman." She loves children and has made teaching them her career, but being highly demanding and independent, she has not yet found a man with whom she wishes to raise a family. For a long time, she was shy and self-conscious about her body, but now she's just the opposite – a radiant young woman who likes to tease and flirt. But Sara has had her share of hardships. Orphaned at the age of five, she learned independence at an early age and still lives alone. And her newly-acquired super-powers are complicating her relationships with men. She wonders whether she'll ever be able to find a man willing to share his life with a woman who is so much superior to him physically. Despite her career and her friends, Sara's solitude and her sad past can sometimes make her moody – and then sweet, kind Sara can display a darker side of her personality.

FAVORITE LINES: "Hello, Sophie? What shall we do this weekend?" … "I love Marc Levy's new book" … "That looks heavy! Can I give you a hand?" … "I feel so sorry for skinny women. They're at such a disadvantage!" … "Hey, guys! Anyone want to arm-wrestle?" … "I love being super-strong. It's awesome!" … "Ah, so many men …"

POWERS: Sara possesses a superhuman strength which enables her to lift about 10 tons. Her strength is the result of a magnetic field which passed through her body and permanently altered her cellular structure. It also endowed her with near-invulnerability to physical blows, small-arm fire, and even medium-caliber bullets. The enhancement of her physical capabilities has also made Sara incredibly fast: She can run at speeds of up to 120 km/h (65 mph). She can withstand temperatures ranging from 250 C to -100 C (500 F to -150 F). She can dive to a depth of 800 meters (half a mile) and remain underwater for three hours without having to come up for air.

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UNIVERSE 2

Name: Laura Deray

Code Name: Agent Amazon

Age: 30

Hair: Blonde

Height: 1.90 m (6' 3")

Weight: 160 kg (350 lbs)

Profession: Secret agent

Marital status: Widow, one child (deceased)

APPEARANCE: Laura is a tall blonde with long hair and an athletic body. Although the genetic alterations she has undergone, and her intensive physical training, have made her impressively tall and muscular, her body has retained its feminine contours. Her height and strength have earned her the code name "Agent Amazon." Endowed with the physique of a fitness champion, she deliberately cultivates the image of a "bimbo." When she is on a mission, she wears extremely provocative outfits – sexy "Bond Girl" gowns and stiletto heels – to distract her adversaries. But in private, she changes into loose, casual clothes.

BACKGROUND: Laura Deray joined the police at the age of 20. She rose quickly in rank on the strength of her moral character, her determination, and her impressive physical capabilities. Her rapid promotion brought her to the attention of Frank Deville, a chief in the DST (Territorial Division of the Secret Service), who had her transferred to his department. They were married shortly afterward; Laura was then 25 years old.

Their marriage was a stormy one, as Laura's career obliged her to spend so much time away on missions. Although she loved field work, this situation was less and less to her husband's liking. When she was 28, she resigned – at Frank's urging – in order to start a family. One year later, she gave birth to a daughter, Loanna. But soon she and her husband were at odds again, for Laura chafed against the life of a stay-at-home mother. Without telling her husband, she began dropping by the headquarters of the DST and taking on occasional missions.

One day, Laura learned that a top-secret project called "Super Agent" had been launched by the DST under the direction of a Professor Simon. Professor Simon claimed to have developed a method for augmenting a human being's physical capabilities by radiation treatments and genetic manipulation. The DST was secretly testing the method on a few selected agents. Intrigued by the prospect of increasing her strength, Laura immediately volunteered for the program. But her application was rejected by the director of the DST, who wanted to recruit only unmarried, full-time agents. Despite this setback, Laura introduced herself to Professor Simon and stayed in touch with him.

Six months after Project Super Agent had begun, Laura learned that it had ended in failure. None of the subjects had obtained any benefits from the treatment, and some of them had actually gotten sick and died. Accordingly, the DST had terminated the project. Disappointed, Laura decided to break her ties with the DST and devote herself to her family.

But three months later, Laura received terrible news. A phone call from the police informed her that her husband and daughter were dead, shot in broad daylight by a maniac who managed to escape capture. At the age of 29, Laura had lost everything. Filled with hatred and a desire for revenge, she vowed to find some way to devote herself to tracking down criminals like the one who had killed her loved ones. With nothing to lose, she went to Professor Simon and begged him to try his procedure on her. At first he refused; but Laura was not above using her charms ... and eventually he agreed. For a month, in secret, Professor Simon subjected the beautiful blonde to radiation treatments and injections designed to modify her genetic structure. Against all expectations, Laura not only survived the procedure but began to experience some amazing effects. Within just a few days, her physical capabilities were already showing spectacular improvement; and by the end of four weeks, she had become truly superhuman, with a strength such as no human being had ever possessed.

She and Professor Simon – now lovers – decided to go to the directors of the DST and explain what they had done. Mark Stern, the head of the division, agreed to let Laura rejoin the DST, on the condition that the professor would allow all traces of his research to be eradicated. Laura herself was sent to destroy the professor's laboratory and all its records so that his results would not fall into the wrong hands. Today, operating under the code name "Agent Amazon," Laura remains the only person on earth with powers like hers.

PERSONALITY: Laura is a fighter who prefers actions to words and who had always aspired to be strong. Long before she gained her super-powers, she had come to see life as a competition which only the strong and the beautiful have a chance of winning. Needless to say, she is delighted by her transformation into a super-woman, which suits her aggressive and competitive temperament. But she is also a woman of honor and integrity, determined to use her strength to protect the weak and oppressed. So it's not surprising that she chose a career as a crime-fighter. But although she is happy to have acquired the strength she always yearned for, the deaths of her husband and daughter have left a void in her life. Reluctant to speak of her sorrow, she rarely displays her emotions – which can make her appear cold and unfeeling in the eyes of others. There are those who wonder whether her fierce determination to hunt down criminals is a sign of mental unbalance. Indeed, her self-declared war against crime can turn into an obsession – and in the name of justice, Laura will kill her adversaries without hesitation and without pity.

FAVORITE LINES: [stopping a gang of bandits in their getaway car] "Hey! Where do you think you're going?" … [facing a dozen armed men] "I advise you to put away your guns if you want to go on living. You don't stand a chance against me!" … "Ho-hum, a tank … how pathetic!"

POWERS: Laura possesses an amazing superhuman strength that enables her to lift over 50 tons. She owes her strength to radiation treatments and genetic manipulations, which increased the density of her bones and muscles and also account for her unusual size and weight. Her body is practically invulnerable to weapons, from handguns to large-caliber rifles. She can even withstand small missiles. Her resistance to extremes of heat and cold is equally remarkable: She can easily tolerate temperatures ranging from 1000 C to -300 C (1800 F to -500 F). Thanks to her powerful thoracic muscles, Laura can inhale an enormous volume of air and keep it compressed in her lungs. By expelling the air, she can generate a wind capable of moving objects weighing up to 300 kg (660 lbs), though only within a narrow range of 1 meter or so. Laura's muscular development also endows her with great speed: Able to run at a velocity of 250 km/h (450 mph), she can easily overtake any vehicle on land. She can dive to depths of nearly 2000 meters (1 mile), remaining underwater for several hours without coming up for air.

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UNIVERSE 3

Name and Title (on Earth): Princess Zalandra

Name and Title (on Adrastia): Zalandra daughter of Alcyonide

Age: 219 Earth-years

Hair: Dark brown

Height:

Weight: 400 kg (880 lbs)

Occupation: Would-be ruler

Marital Status: Unmarried, no children

APPEARANCE: Princess Zalandra is a woman of imposing stature who stands well over six feet tall in the high-heeled shoes she likes to wear. Along with her great height, she possesses the spectacular physique – muscular yet voluptuous – of an Adrastian warrior-woman. She often wears long silken gowns and sumptuous jewels that give her a haughty, regal appearance. She enjoys looking down on men – both literally and figuratively. And despite her 219 years, Zalandra has the face and body of a 20-year-old woman, since Adrastians are known to live more than 1000 years.

BACKGROUND: Zalandra is a native of the planet Adrastia, which is located in a galaxy more than 100,000 light-years from our solar system. She is the younger daughter of Queen Alcyonide, who rules Adrastia with an iron hand. Adrastian society is a matriarchy ruled by women – who are physically stronger than the men – and in which royal power is passed from mother to daughter. To Zalandra's distress, it is her older sister Amalthea who will eventually succeed to the throne. But Zalandra enjoys all the advantages of royal birth. She lives the life of a princess – excursions to the most exclusive spots on the planet, balls, receptions ... but her favorite pastime has always been travelling the universe in search of new worlds.

Adrastians have a highly advanced technology that enables them to travel quickly across space via interdimensional portals. But this technology is only available to a small number of Adrastians – namely, women of high birth. In the course of many years spent voyaging across the universe, Zalandra has discovered more than 200 inhabited planets – but their primitive life-forms were always of little interest to her. That changed on the day she happened to come upon our own solar system. The scanners on her vessel indicated a very strong possibility that humanoid life had evolved on one of its nine planets, and further investigation narrowed it down to the blue planet known to its inhabitants as "Earth." This discovery was to change Zalandra's life – and the lives of six billion Earthlings. For no sooner had she set foot on our planet than she discovered that its weaker gravity endowed her with incredible powers. She decided to remain here permanently and to realize her lifelong dream – to rule a planet of her own.

POWERS: Zalandra's powers derive from her extraterrestrial origin. Adrastia, her home planet, has a gravity 2000 times stronger than Earth's, so that even a small object such as a bracelet weighs more than 400 kg (half a ton). In addition, Adrastia's environment – its density, its atmosphere, the rays of its sun – makes the metabolism of its natives superior to that of Earthlings. Adrastians – especially the women – are bigger and stronger than their terrestrial counterparts. On her home world, Zalandra is no different from any other woman – but on Earth, she becomes a veritable goddess, with virtually unlimited powers.

Earth's gravity – far weaker than Adrastia's – endows Zalandra with a superhuman strength that enables her to lift 10,000 tons and set off earth tremors with a stamp of her foot. Zalandra is virtually indestructible: No man-made weapon short of a thermonuclear bomb is able to hurt her – or so much as scratch her skin. Her strength makes her extremely fast: She can run at speeds greater than Mach 3 (i.e. 3 times the speed of sound, or about 2000 mph). Zalandra can inhale enormous volumes of air; by exhaling, she can create destructive winds in excess of 500 km/h (275 mph), equal to the most violent tornado ever recorded. In the air, Zalandra can fly at speeds greater than 6000 km/h (3000 mph).