Archer (Merida DunBroch)

## Background

Merida was born to Fergus and Elinor DunBroch, owners of the Scottish corporation DunBroch Corp. Growing up, Merida was trained in martial arts and archery for self-defense purposes, and continued to learn for sport. Merida was encouraged by her mother to pursue a more traditionally feminine lifestyle, e.g. to marry and settle down. Merida resisted this philosophy, preferring to remain self-sufficient. After some years of strain, Elinor accepted her daughter's views and Merida was given control of DunBroch Corp.

With the rise of superheroes after the repealing of the Superhero Registration Act, Merida decided to use her skills and resources to become a superhero in her own right, rationalizing that if she had the abilities and strength of will, she had a duty to help the innocent. Merida moved to Corona City and set roots as a hero, naming herself "Archer" after her favored weapon and skill.

Some time after establishing herself, Archer aided Corona's first hero, Limelight, against an invasion of stone golems. Grateful for the help and friendly by nature, Limelight introduced herself. Archer was less-than-thrilled by the heroine's bubbly and feminine demeanor and resisted her offers of friendship. After some time of this, Archer and Limelight teamed up to neutralize a gang threat and Archer relented, allowing them to establish a more permanent partnership.

Over time, Archer and limelight grew quite close, becoming best friends. This friendship would culminate in revealing their identities to each other.

## Appearance

Merida is a young woman of average height and slim yet womanly build, with a round, freckled face and small, delicate nose. She possesses a mane of curly red hair, light blue eyes, and fair skin. Many have called her quite attractive, often referring to her as a "bombshell".

Merida's "Archer" uniform consists of a dark green leather jacket covering a Kevlar vest, matching green combat pants with pockets to hold gadgets and armored pads for close combat. In addition, she wears black leather steel-toed boots, black leather fingerless gloves, a green domino mask, and a quiver. Her final piece is a long, hooded green cloak to hide her hair. She wears her hair in a plait when in uniform.

## Powers & Abilities

Despite possessing no inherent superhuman abilities, Merida is a skilled and powerful superhero. Her mastery of various disciplines, wide skill set, and iron will allow her to thrive in the superhero world. Among others, Merida possesses the following:

* **Master-Level Archer:** Merida is best characterized by her unparalleled mastery of the bow and arrow, particularly the short bow. She has displayed uncanny accuracy and superb rate of fire, even under intense pressure.
* **Master Martial Artist:** Merida has been trained from a young age in a number of martial arts styles, her extensive training and exceptional experience making her a fearsome hand-to-hand opponent capable of fighting a large group of adversaries with relative ease. She has shown enough experience to train others, as she did to Riley Andersen.
* **Expert Acrobat:** Merida has shown remarkable agility and coordination when fighting others, often utilizing wide leaps, back flips and other such maneuvers with ease. She often utilizes parkour maneuvers when on patrol or pursuing criminals.
* **Stealth Expert:** Merida has frequently displayed the ability to move without being seen or heard, often used to sneak up on opponents too strong to fight head-on.
* **Experienced Strategist:** Due to her years of crime fighting without powers, Merida has developed keen analytical and strategic skills. She has often been seen using her numerous trick arrows in unorthodox ways to defeat opponents too strong to fight head-on.
* **Powerful Will:** Perhaps Merida's most valuable attribute is her unrelenting personal drive. This innate trait allows her to find the will to fight or pursue her chosen path even when others would give up.

### Equipment

* **Enchanted Longbow:** Merida's trademark weapon is an enchanted short bow, made from white wood and carved with ancient Gaelic symbols.
	+ The bow enchants Merida's arrows to always find their target should she miss, much like heat-seeking missiles. This allows her to not only always hit her target when needed, but also trip up unsuspecting targets by purposefully missing and letting the arrow circle back when the target lets down their guard. However, destroying the arrow itself will nullify this effect.
	+ The bow acts as a focus to see and communicate with Will o' the Wisps, small mystic creatures with the power to lead one to their fate. The Wisps can guide Merida to people, places, or objects she seeks and can act as a warning of danger.
	+ When feeling extremely protective, Merida has shown the ability to infuse her arrows with Wisps' own fire, exponentially increasing their power. This ability is rarely used, and not fully understood. The ability also seems to drain Merida's energy as a cost. The wisps have also shown the power to teleport her to a safe location, though this too is rarely used.
* **Trick Arrows:** Merida utilizes a number of high-tech arrows in combat. These include explosive, grapnel, smokescreen, tazer, EMP, foam-producing, and freezing arrows.
* **Stun Gun:** Merida has at least once shown that she carries a standard electrical stun gun, used to incapacitate non-superpowered foes.
* **Electrical Knuckle-Dusters:** Merida wears a set of tazer-equipped knuckle dusters, which compliment her already-superb hand-to-hand combat skills.
* **High-Tech Motorcycles:** For transport, Merida uses a number of modified motorcycles equipped with a number of extra features, such as GPS, auto-pilot, defensive weapons, and even flight capabilities. Many are powered by Plasma Cores, which can be detonated as a powerful last-ditch attack.