Nina Damfino

* Biography
* Threat Assessment
* Trivia and Notes
* Gallery

## Echo

### Nina Damfino: 1990 - 2001

Nina is the daughter of Sofia Damfino, who was a daughter of one of Sal Maroni's enforcers. Growing up, Nina was never told about her father. She got the impression that many others in the periphery of her family knew the identity of her father but were kept quiet by Sofia and/or Nina's grandparents. This proved to be a source of contention between Nina and her family, driving a wedge between them.

### Nina Damfino: 2001 - 2008

Nina had pretty much written-off her family by the time Maroni was arrested and tried. As her grandfather ended up behind bars with much of Maroni's men, Nina and her mother were left to fend for themselves. Nina did not regard this as a good opportunity to bond with her mother. It only further pushed the two apart. By the time Nina was a teenager, she spent more time out of her home. When she was fifteen, Nina dropped out of school and ran away to live on the street, running with a teenage gang of hoodlums.

Among her gang, Nina's familiarity with organized crime set her apart from the other street kids. She gravitated toward the position of leader, though she was often challenged by male contenders and forced to regularly prove her worth. Nina dealt with all such provocation with exceptionally brutal efficiency.

During the Cataclysm, Nina and her gang was absorbed into the new Red Hood biker gang under the management of Dumas. When the gang later transitioned to being the Sons of Batman, Nina had the honor of being one of the first of Saint's bat-girls.

### Nina Damfino: 2008 - 2009

Nina did not last long with the Sons of Batman. Nina met Diedre Vance, a local dominatrix, at one of the biker gang's rallies. Nina's mother had recently died, and though Nina had no real love for the woman, she still took the news rather hard. For whatever reason, Diedre noticed Nina at the bar and decided to help the biker girl get out of her funk. Diedre worked her magic and Nina woke up in Diedre's bed, smiling for the first time in months.

This did not become the one-night stand that the pair had likely expected it to have been. Before either knew it, they were finding and making excuses to hang out together — and not even on a purely sexual basis as many of Diedre's past clients would. The two actually became rather close friends (with benefits), though not that the Sons of Batman made that easy to do.

Though Diedre had clients among the Sons of Batman, the motorcycle club increasingly came between Nina and Diedre's friendship. As Nina gained more influence in the gang, she was often called away from her time with Diedre and there were members of the gang that felt Diedre's friendship with Nina entitled them to discounts for Diedre's services—which Miss Vance was adamant was not the case at all. Eventually, it all came to a head when Nina was sent to pressure Diedre into paying the gang for protection for her business when she typically never had need of such, having clients from multiple different competing criminal enterprises. File:Riddler Symbol.png  Rather than doing that, Nina decided to invest her recent acquired inheritance in Diedre. She got with Diedre and put together a comprehensive blackmail package against the Sons while packing up and moving Diedre's operation to Cherry Hill — where there was a market for a higher-priced clientele (And it was also under control of the Masterminds — particularly the Riddler — who Nina knew was the one that the Saint cautioned the gang to avoid at all costs).
In exchange for Diedre and Nina not releasing the material they had on the Sons' operations and its inner circle's particular kinks, the motorcycle club would agree to allow Nina to break away from the club and would also pay Diedre hush money — a portion of this payment was then forwarded to the Quiz Crew to procure their protection as added security against the Sons' retaliations (Riddler's racketeering rates were much more reasonable and affordable compared to the Sons).

A short time after their move, Nina and Diedre landed a rather influential client that took a shine to the young women and changed their lives dramatically.

## Threat Assessment

### Resources

* **Child of Organized Crime:** When she was born, Nina the granddaughter of a mafia enforcer (who later became a caporegime [captain] for the mob) and the daughter of a woman who dated one mob foot soldier after another and was heavily involved in several mafia businesses. Though she never knew her father, she grew up expecting that her father was one of the many leg-breakers and hitmen that her mother dated. As result of this lifestyle and not being shielded from it by any reasonable degree, Nina became comfortable with violence and extortion at a young age.
	+ ***Business Management:*** Nina credits her leadership skills to being raised in the mob. It gave her an appreciation for the organizational systems and structured hierarchy employed by the crime families of her youth. She also received a fundamental grasp on how businesses would run as fronts for criminal enterprises, having observed her mother oversee several front companies for Sal Maroni.
* **Street Kid:** As a teenager, Nina bailed on her mother and became one of Gotham's many youths lost to street-level crime. Nina learned to survive on the mean streets by any means necessary — often at the cost of other's well-being.
	+ ***Sleight-of-Hand:*** Nina can easily pick pockets and conceal contraband on herself.
	+ ***Streetwise:*** Nina knows the ins and outs of Gotham's underworld, both literally and metaphorically. She not only has a firm understanding of the black market and many different criminal outfits that control it, but Nina also knows her way around the underground tunnels, back alleys, and various other utility paths allow criminals to navigate the city unobserved by the city's surveillance and police patrols.
* **Badass Biker Babe:** Nina would mature from street criminal to outlaw biker during Gotham's Cataclysm. This required an escalation in the violence Nina would normally engage in.
	+ ***Brawling:*** Nina is brutal fighter. Though she prefers using bludgeoning instruments (such as her baseball bat) or her switchblade when forced to fight in close-quarters, Nina is more than capable of fighting hand-to-hand with considerable skill, especially when she and Deidre are able to fight together.
	+ ***Driving:*** Nina is a talented motorcyclist and automobile driver. She frequently serves as a gateway driver in the crimes of the Quizmasters (aka: the Quiz Crew).
	+ ***Firearms:*** Nina is a master markswoman, familiar in the use of a wide array of handguns, shotguns, assault rifles, and submachines guns. Though Nina can and has used lethal force on a number of occasions (she's lost count on the number of clowns she's killed in the last few months), it is worth noting she has never killed an innocent bystander or police officer. In fact, Nina generally fires her weapon at police to force them into cover or deter their pursuit. This is standard operating procedure for the Quiz Crew as the Riddler prefers to let the GCPD keep their focus on any of Gotham's other major criminal outfits.
* **Riddler's Lieutenant:** In the Quiz Crew, Nina shares the number two spot in the chain of command with Diedre Vance. Under Nygma's instruction, Nina has become a ferocious criminal.
	+ ***Interrogation:*** Nygma makes good money off selling information. Nina (working with Diedre) if often a primary source of this information using a variety of methods.
	+ ***Pain Intolerance:*** Being the submissive in relationship with Diedre, Nina has built up quite the tolerance to pain — and usually derives pleasure from the sensation.

### Weaknesses

* **Loved One — Diedre Vance:** Nina has proven several times that she would risk life and limb to keep Diedre out of harm or break her out of custody.
* **Loyalty — Edward Nygma:** Nina is very loyal to her employer, Edward Nygma. She is willing to risk her life in his service and feels he would never sacrifice her needlessly. That said, she's also the most likely of the Quiz Crew to talk back to Nygma when his obsessions and eccentricities are endangering their criminal organization.
* **Vice — Wrath:** Nina definitely has very violent anger management issues.

### Analytics

* **Physicality:** 2 — Basic / Typical
* **Occult:** 0 — Abysmal / Nonexistent
* **Weaponry:** 5 — Master / Remarkable
* **Expertise:** 3 — Trained / Exceptional
* **Range:** 5 — Master / Remarkable
* **Strategy:** 3 — Trained / Exceptional
	+ **TOTAL:** 42
	+ **RANKING:** Low Threat

## Trivia and Notes

### Trivia

* Though it's likely her love for Nina outweighs her love for Edward Nygma, it's no secret that Diedre was the one to have fallen in love with the Riddler and convinced Nina and Edward to join her in a threesome relationship.

### Notes

* In *Detective Comics #822* it's mentioned Riddler recruited Query and Echo in an S&M Club club.

## Network Files

Network Files Nina Damfino 1.jpgNetwork Files: Nina Damfino 1
## Appears In

Riddle Me This.jpgRiddle Me This...The Quizmasters.jpgQuizmasters

## Links and References

* Appearances of Nina Damfino

1. ↑ Network Files: Nina Damfino 1
2. ↑ Network Files: Diedre Vance 1