Minerva

**Key Features** | »» Cybernetic modifications (extensive)»» Monomolecular blades (built into fingers)»» Gyrojet rifle (linked to neural system)»» Grenade launcher attachment»» Lots of hair (with streaks of teal)

*"We can do this the easy way or the hard way! No wait, let me choose for you."*

- Minerva, followed by shots and screams

## Tactical Anaylsis

* **Ranged fights don't matter**: A deadly combatant more machine than human, Minerva is armed with an automatic gyrojet rifle for handling infantry and an underslung grenade launcher for vehicles and structures, enabling her to defeat most enemies at range with ease.

* **Neither does close combat**: If her enemies get too close for comfort, Minerva can change to a set of retractable four-centimetre mono-edged blades implanted beneath her fingernails, and receive a burst of drugs to make her even more vicious and quick. Once the drugs wear down, she changes back to her rifle.

* **Critical designer mistake**: She is not without her weaknesses, however. Neither her gyrojet rifle nor her grenade launcher can target aircraft, and in addition, the weight of her 'augmentations' render her unable to swim.

* **Big girl, bigger gun**: After extended periods in battle, Minerva will bring out a railgun rifle instead of gyrojets. This allows her to kill entire columns of infantry at a time.

## Background

*"Ah honey - you think you can kill me with that oh so big shotgun of yours? So sweet and innocent... I'll save you for last."*

- Minerva to an unfortunate Peacekeeper
 File:MinervaPortrait.jpg
**Minerva** was always one for show business. Whether stepping daintily over the carcasses of a... *"persuasion challenged"* mercenary gang, flaunting her body on top of a spotlight illuminated Sprawl Arcology, or merely slicing the throat of a Talon Rogue with a single deadly caress, Minerva prefers to do it with style - and bloodshed, if possible. Seen only rarely, the mysterious woman serving as the self-proclaimed *"Queen Bitch of the Sprawls"* is perhaps the most terrifying figure in the Syndicate - and the Weekly World News, one of the Syndicate's most widely published newspapers, can attest to how truthful that title is, famously showcasing the photograph showing Minerva standing over a Satyr, bound and gagged, and leering at the camera as she showed the right hand of the Satyr - separated from its body.

But as violently exciting as Minerva's public life may be, little is known about the woman behind the figure. Even Minerva is thought to be her stage name, and rumours run rampant throughout Syndicate streets and datalinks as to what she's truly like. Some claim she was an experiment born out of Allied science and Syndicate safety procedures. Others say that she's Romulus's daughter, or even his sister. And a few - those who are shunned even by the other Sprawl dwellers on account of *"the crazies"*, claim that she is the newborn sibling of the Androktasiai, Greek personifications of manslaughter that invite Minerva as the new personification of urban decay. But none of them are the truth... indeed, none of them come even close. Minerva is indeed the only known name of the Queen of the Backstreets, for all other records have been destroyed and those that knew her other names found dead. What is known, however, is that Minerva was once a star... in mid-century Hollywood.

Young, emotional, and willing to do almost *"anything"* to get the lead part in a movie, she was known for being many things. A dancer, a singer, an actress - if you had the role, Minerva could fill it for you. She enjoyed great popularity among movie goers, and her list of movie roles only went up - especially in notoriously bawdy or burlesque shorts. It was noted by several other starlets of the time that Minerva was mainly cast for her looks - her actual skills were questionable, and rumours surrounded her like a mink coat, claiming that she would sleep with producers to get roles, would lie about other starlets and belittle them, would poison the minds of directors until they put her in to ease her minds. Minerva, for the most part, never cared - fame was fame, no matter the spirit.

In 1955, however, she found her newest *"prize"* - in the package of a young, handsome, and rebellious film star known as James Dean. Reportedly cancelling a scheduled race in Salinas when she first placed a boot on the hood of his car, the young movie star and lecherous movie starlet found lust at first sight. Unfortunately, however, lust did not equal love - and in the following years, Minerva and James went into a spiralling relationship of affection and hatred for each other. The fights that frequently broke out on set whenever they worked together were far more fascinating than any tales of adultery the rumour mill could cook up, and after a particularly harsh argument in 1956 while filming *"The Ten Commandments"* (James was the lead role, with Minerva as Nefertiti), James took to drinking. Minerva chose not to follow him, but instead found a different calling - in plastic surgery.

Minerva had been a young starlet in the mid 1940s, but now a decade later she was no longer the stunning 22 year old that she had been. Though her vanity and worry was entirely unfounded in her early thirties, it still led her to seek the pleasures of beauty as brought by the scalpel. A tummy tuck there, a slight boost to some choice assets there, slight molding of the face... Minerva was determined to be the most perfect she could look, ripping the years back any way she could. And though James Dean, rebel as he was, still supported her in his better times, a quiet discontent started to grow in him.

In 1960, the discontent showed. While drinking, James discovered that Minerva had been, in fact, out of money for some time - and to substitute, she simply used his money to pay for her numerous and monthly plastic surgeries. He confronted her, and the biggest - and last - fight between the two happened. At one point in the fight, James cried out in rage, *"All these years, I thought we would never go apart! The fighting, the loving - it's just the way we were! But now, you stand here and you yell at me because I don't want you using my money to get your goddamn chest lifted and belly button made an innie, and I can't take it anymore! I'm THROUGH!"*

Minerva just stood there, tears starting to run down her face from the screaming, and ran out the door. She ran, in the pouring rain, to the only person she truly felt safe with - her plastic surgeon.

After meeting with him, tears streaming down her face, Minerva was calmed, gently sedated, and led to a nearby couch to rest. When she lay down, head tired, she was filled with sadness. But when she woke... she was through with remorse. She had moved on to anger. Anger at the man who had insulted her, said her body shouldn't be made as perfect as possible. She found her plastic surgeon, and she announced that she wanted another surgery. A... special surgery.

The surgeon nearly gasped from the request, and at first refused to do it - it was completely immoral! But Minerva knew that money had more power than morality, and she kept raising the price she'd pay - until the surgeon, quietly praying for his soul, agreed.

The next the public knew of James Dean, he was dead. Found in a rented apartment room, his body had lost the vitality it once had - probably something to do with the lack of blood or skin he now had. Thick gashes marred his skins, as if a person had violently stripped skin and flesh off the muscle in violent rage. His legs resembled less body parts and more strips of fleshy streamers, the inner muscle torn out and revealing the white bone within. By contrast, the head was left almost untouched... the only mar upon it the soft red line where his throat had been cut in one last sign of mercy. Minerva was the immediate suspect, and a police team was sent out to find her... but she was gone.

Minerva had gone to a place where people would admire her for her beauty - the Sprawls. Away from people who didn't want her to look as stunning as she could, she made her life on the streets, her new fingers glistening as the straight razors within danced gracefully over flesh and pooled blood with exquisite luxury. And as she killed, she acquired money - and used it promptly on a new surgery.

Now, Minerva is reckoned to be almost 46 years old by the few who have the knowledge they do of her background, yet to outside appearances she doesn't look a day over 25 - biologically. In recent years, fashion in the Sprawls has changed to be more bionic - and Minerva, always one for appearances, followed suit as well. Her original straight razors, inserted into the tips of her fingers, have been replaced with monomolecular blades, and she's taken to carrying around more conventional weapons for when her prey doesn't want to engage in close combat. She works for no man, and no woman - and the only thing likely keeping her from attacking Syndicate forces on the battlefield is the fact that the other side won't offer her money for her next surgery. The Syndicate Board of Classics themselves prefer to keep a close eye on her - Minerva is a genuine celebrity in the Sprawls, and should she ever decide that the Syndicate doesn't appreciate her style, a popular revolution could very well be in the charts.

## Known Activities

- Killed a battalion of Talon soldiers alone and took almost no damage, save for a crossbow bolt through the leg.

- Destroyed a group of Electrical Protectorate units threatening an oil rig. Despite the fact that soldiers protecting the oil rig all died, she single handedly eliminated the attack force of hundreds of robots.

- Singlehandedly broke up a riot outside a meeting of industrial nations and corporations. Despite being armed with rubber gyrojets and tear gas in her grenade launcher, Minerva still managed to cause a large number of injuries, earning her a bonus from the Syndicate.

- Attacked and managed to force back an unknown doppelganger of herself. Suffered heavy damage to her implants in the process but saved Pope Paul VI. Not only did she managed to avoid being framed for the Pope's assassination attempt, she also made sure the Syndicate's friendly (albeit one-sided, the Vatican still has some suspicions) relationship with the Vatican.

## Behind the Scenes

* Minerva is inspired by Molly Millions from William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy and cyborg special forces woman Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell.