R
Ringmaster
Guest
Original poster
Appearance
Name
Helena
Age
Late 20s to early 30s
Canon
Biography
Bah bah bah, is boring and full of spoils. Go watch TV show on Netflix.
Helena was born in 1984, one of numerous offspring of the clone project LEDA conducted by the neolutionist Dyad Institute. An unknown number of genetically identical zygotes were implanted in surrogate mothers around the world to be raised and studied in varying environments and social standings, oblivious to their true nature and subject to strict and invasive monitoring conditions. One of these mothers, however, came to rightfully fear the institute's intention for these children; she fled from them during her pregnancy, severing ties with the program, intent on hiding the child she was carrying away from their questionable purpose. Her job turned out to be twice as difficult as expected. Rather than one child she found herself carrying identical twins, and when they were born she resolved to separate them at birth and give them up to render them further untraceable to the Dyad group before going off the grid herself. The first clone, Sarah, was orphaned and soon taken in by an underground pipeline based in London dedicated to smuggling children and families who suffered from then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's restrictive governance. Helena was the other sister, and she was sent to be raised by a coven of strict nuns in Ukraine.
The nuns were harsh and unpleasant people in their own right, but when she was twelve she was found by a far more dangerous brand of religious devotees. A cult of extremists who were aware of project LEDA and chose to oppose it with violence, the organization known as the Proletheans located her and took her away from the coven for their own purposes. Helena was given to a handler, a cruel priest named Tomas who beat and mistreated her, keeping her locked in a cage when she wasn't needed and psychologically dominating her through manipulation and fear. She was made aware of the other clones and (falsely) led to believe that she was the original among them, and at the Prolethean's insistence that the clones were abominations who had to be cleansed was trained to stalk, fight and kill for the sole purpose of slaying her genetic identicals.
The years of crushing mental abuse rendered her completely subservient to the Proletheans, unable to resist or flee if such even occurred to her. Every time Tomas yanked her leash, a clone died. She assassinated three unassuming women across Europe, but the fourth target given to her - a German-born clone named Katja Obinger - offered something of a twist; she was already aware of the cloning program's existence herself, having been in contact with a number of other similarly self-aware clones converged in Canada. She fled there in the hopes of evading her assassin but Helena followed suit, intent on finishing the job. With things going as they were, hope for any of the clones' survival seemed dim.
That all changed when she arrived in Toronto. Because unbeknownst to either of them, the next clone she came face-to-face with would turn out to be the twin sister she lost at birth.
Strengths/Abilities
Helena's strength, speed and agility, though not superhuman, are all exceptional, deceptively so given her size and somewhat sickly appearance. She has been shown arm wrestling men much larger than her and winning, incapacitating people before they can so much as lift a finger to stop her, and performing agile parkour maneuvers with ease. Most impressive is her endurance and pain threshold, which allows her to function with wounds that would leave most writhing on the floor in agony. It's unclear if her conditioning is the result of a genetic predisposition or simply the result of her upbringing.
Additionally, while not a strength per se, she carries the condition situs inversus, meaning as a result of being a mirror image twin her organs are themselves mirrored from the positions they would typically be in; so her heart is on the right side of her chest rather than the left and so forth. The condition is passive enough, but can confuse or deceive anyone hoping to cause her serious harm by targeting a major organ.
Being trained to kill, she is proficient with virtually all manner of weapons, and has been shown effectively using knives, pistols, sniper rifles, a bow and arrow, and generally whatever can be found on hand. She's also highly lethal when fighting without any weapons, whether fighting to kill, maim, or simply incapacitate, and knows where and how to attack someone so it hurts the most. The eyes tend to be a choice target.
Equipment
One steel fork. Stainless.
Weakness
Helena's mental state is beyond fragile, to the point that it's more likely she suffers from numerous mental disorders than one. The circumstances of her life are no doubt a chief cause for such, though it has been noted that some Project LEDA clones may be inherently susceptible to mental illness to begin with, Helena being a prime example. If something hurts her physically she can downright relish it, but if something hurts her on an emotional level she might be inclined to more or less shut down. She is particularly sensitive to matters concerning family or children.
Though she has made something of an effort to acclimate in recent times, being raised in a coven and taken by the Proletheans when she was 12 has left her with virtually no idea how to behave like a human being. She can be eccentric, animalistic and downright homicidal to a disturbing degree, and while she can also be strangely childlike and lovable in her own way these attributes are often offputting to the better-adjusted people she encounters.
Physically, her body has been subject to so much abuse and trauma over the years that the fact she's still alive at all is nigh miraculous. Due to being confined to a locked cage indoors Helena rarely saw the sun throughout her formative years, her hair and skin's pale pigmentation the result of a melanin deficiency rather than natural. The entirety of her back is horribly disfigured by scars, the religion-fueled mistreatment she endured having compelled her to carve the outline of folded angel wings there, likely for imposed "atonement" purposes due to her being considered sinful by nature.
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Yes yes I understand rules very well. Take me swimming now.
I really wanna give this a Hug and Love rating.
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