Maritza Blackbird

## Background

### 1974 - 1997: Maritza Blackbird

Maritza was born into the Blackbird family, a family full of members with military background & a nice amount of wealth as well. Maritza & her younger brother Nathaniel were given all they wanted in life. But in addition to the riches, they were both taught in combat by their father, one of the first agents of the Department of Extranormal Operations. While Nathaniel loved training more, it came natural to Maritza. Becoming an expert markswoman, Maritza decided to put her abilities to good use & joined the Army Special Forces.

She became a member of an elite special ops unit & was the only female member to join. In addition to being a trained sniper, she was also a "Rabid Mole" reconnaissance expert.

### 1997 - 1999: Deadeye

Like many other exceptional individuals in the military, Maritza was approached about joining a covert black ops military unit. It was her obvious talent for this work that made her the perfect choice. Seeing this as an advancement in her career, Maritza became a member of the team Wetworks. As time with the team went on, she developed feelings for the team leader, Claymore. Though he returned the feelings, they never acted upon it for various reasons.

Maritza's ability to essentially disappear into thin air made her the perfect member to do recon for their missions. But her ability would be proven to falter. During one mission, the team was sent by their leader Craven to enter a terrorists' base located on the Raanes Peninsula of Eastern Europe. Their mission was to extract a biological agent in their possession. Once the team had subdued some of the terrorists, they realized that the base had been raided before their arrival. They began investigating & founded large transparent tubes containing golden fluid.

Suddenly, the explosives they were carrying were activated by remote, displaying a twenty second countdown. It was at that moment that the team knew they were double crossed. Too far in to escape the blast, the team was stuck in the explosion but the explosion would also break the tubes, allowing the gold fluid to reach the members. Maritza, along with others members, were bonded with the symbiotes before any damage was done but some of their teammates would die in the explosion. One of the listed casualties was Claymore. Maritza never truly recovered from the pain & being chosen as the one to lie about his demise to his wife did not make things easier.

### 1999 - 2004: Deadeye

Devastated & filled with guilt from her teammates' death, Maritza stayed to herself but didn't leave the team. She continued as a crucial member when they raided another terrorist cell, when they ended a trafficking ring & even ended up fighting vampires at one point (story for another day). She eventually left just before the team disbanded & went off on her own. Still feeling guilt from the mission & the loss of Claymore, she felt that she didn't do her job right as she should've been able to realize something was amiss.

While searching for herself, Maritza would ended up in the city of Blue Valley, about three hours from her hometown. During one of her many visits to the local bar, a string of "animal maulings" began happening in town. No able to put away her saving mindset, Maritza did some investigating. Things did not go well & not only did Maritza discover the murders were committed by a werewolf, she was bitten as well. She's unsure of what exactly came next but when she came to, she was surrounded a large family.

Maritza was soon introduced to the Force family, a group of peaceful & law abiding werewolves living in the city. They had also heard of the animal attacks & had taken care of it themselves but by the time they got to him, he had already bit Maritza. After the matriarch of the family, Iris Force, explained Maritza's condition to her, she had her son Harry help her get adjusted. For the next two years, Maritza became an honorary member of the Force family. With the help of their pack, Maritza learned how to control her urgings & fed only on animals.

### 2004 - 2010: Maritza Blackbird

After leaving Blue Valley, Maritza began roaming again until she came across Cole Cash & Marc Slayton. The three got along famously well & would eventually bond over the fact that they were all puppets of the infamous International Operations. They had their share of fun, traveling from city to city until they eventually settled down in National City. Maritza slept on their couch for weeks until she realized that they were actually staying there permanently so she got herself an apartment down the hall. She also got herself a job as a bodyguard for some CEO in the technology field to keep herself busy but like Cole & Marc, she wanted more in life.

### 2010 - Present: Pilgrim

Maritz wouldn't know what "more" was until Marc told them he had been recruited by former Team 7 member Michael Cray to join the UN organization, Stormwatch. To his surprise, Maritza was completely on board.

## Romantic Relationships

* John Zullo: Lover (2013)
* Sabina Ashe: On & Off (2005 - )

## Powers & Abilities

* **Golden Symbiote:** Pilgrim is bonded to a symbiote which normally hides inside her, but can flow out to coat her skin with a golden armor.
	+ ***Invulnerability*:** The golden symbiote allows her to be invulnerable as long as she is coated in the symbiote, resulting in her being bulletproof, immune to human strength, surviving falls from several stories & be unscathed from numerous energy attacks. Only something of the same strength or more can pierce it.
	+ ***Invisibility*:** She can turn herself invisible when fully coated.
	+ ***Longevity*:** As a result of the symbiote, Maritza has retained a youthful image & has had retained the appearance of a woman in her late 20s/early 30s. Her lycanthropy also allows her to live a much longer life than the average human & retain a youthful appearnace.
	+ ***Superhuman Strength*:** While already exhibiting enhanced strength as a werewolf, her strength becomes intensified when her body is coated in the golden symbiote.
	+ ***Telepathic Link***: She has a telepathic link with the other symbiote wearers, the rest of Wetworks.

* **Lycanthropy**: Maritza is became a werwolf after being bitten a rogue werewolf. Werewolves are a supernatural shape-shifting species of beings who can transform into large, fearsome & extremely hostile wolves.
	+ ***Shapeshifting**/**Transformation*****:** Maritza has gained the ability to transform into her werewolf forms at will. When in wolf form, her body increases in size & mass. She also grows claws & pointed ears. Most werewolves avoid transforming at all due to the pain it causes. She can also perform partial transformations, manifesting single features of their werewolf forms.
	+ ***Enhanced Agility*:** Werewolves possess superhuman agility. They can move, jump, climb, and run incredibly fast without difficulty or exhaustion.
	+ ***Enhanced Speed*:** Her intensified quickness, agility, reflexes & endurance makes her faster than any human. Essentially, she is fast enough to surprise a vampire. She is able to use this ability in both their human or werewolf forms. She is able to reach her peak time under a full moon.
	+ ***Enhanced Durability*:** Werewolves can take far more trauma than humans can without nearly as much discomfort or injury. They can also exert themselves for longer periods without tiring.
	+ ***Enhanced Strength*:** Werewolves are much stronger than humans, possessing strength powerful enough to even take on vampires in human form. She has displayed feats of intense strength, such as being able to send multiple cops flying with just a punch & fly through a glass window, easily shattering it.
	+ ***Enhanced Senses*:** Werewolves have extremely extremely keen and heightened senses of smell, sight, taste, hearing and touch inherent in all canines. Because they are supernatural & have powers that excel their wolf counterparts, they can hear, see & smell better than that of regular canines. Maritza even retains this skill in her human form.
	+ ***Accelerated Healing*:** She possesses superhuman regenerative abilities, meaning that if she is physically injured, her body will heal rapidly. She can also heal from grievous of injuries, even in human form, though more slowly. She cannot heal from fatal wounds, such as a broken neck.
	+ ***Lycanthrope Enhancement*:** She is capable of using her werewolf features to further supplement their powers. As such, she can grow claws from her fingernails & werewolf fangs from her teeth even when in human form. Her eyes also change into those of her werewolf form, granting them better eyesight.
	+ ***Full Moon*:** A werewolf's strength, speed, agility & all their powers are evolved & at their peak during a full moon.

* **Firearms:** The Pilgrim was highly trained with guns, being a top rated sniper & was chosen to join a black ops unit. she used to quickly take out her targets.
* **Hand to Hand Combat:** She is accomplished in close quarters combat, having begun training since she was a child. She has held her own against multiple assailants, even briefly gaining the upper hand.
* **Marksmanship:** Her father trained her in marksmanship, becoming so good that she became a sniper in Army Special Forces.
* **Military Operation:** Maritza spent a near decade in the military before leaving.
* **Stealth:** She is able to essentially disappear into thin air, making her the person for recon missions.

### Weaknesses

* **Magic:** Werewolves are susceptible to magic. This is inclusive of mystical objects as well as spells that can speed up or slow down their transformations, or force them to transform on the spot.
* **Physical Trauma:** Minor physical injuries such as gunshots, stab wounds and broken bones will cause a werewolf pain & will also slow them down. However, this is only temporary, as they will heal within minutes.
* **Silver:** The legends of great & magical wolves often make mention of their weakness to objects or weapons made of silver & those tales bear out to be true. If injured by a silver weapon, it will take her much longer to heal than it would from being injured by a weapon composed of conventional material. Any silver left in her body weakens her system, slows her healing & can cause long term damage. If shot with a silver bullet to the heart, they're dead.
* **Wolfsbane:** When ingested, wolfsbane causes her werewolf to become severely weak & feverish. Exposure to their skin will burn them.

### Ratings

* **Intelligence:** 3 - Average / Basic
* **Strength:** 6 - Expert / Advanced
* **Speed:** 6 - Expert / Advanced
* **Occult:** 3 - Average / Basic
* **Weapons:** 5 - High / Exceptional
* **Range:** 5 - High / Exceptional
* **Strategy:** 5 - High / Exceptional
* **Combat:** 5 - High / Exceptional
* **TOTAL:** 146 - Threat Level 3 / General Threat

## Trivia

* As a child, she developed a desire to be alone as much as possible.
* She can correctly identify an individual merely by smelling a sample of their blood.
* She was the only female member of America's elite Special Operations Group.
* Her & Sabina are currently in an intimate relationship. No one really speaks of it but most are aware. The two had crossed paths again after Maritza found out she was a werewolf. They started a relationship that is mostly on & off but the two have an understanding between them.
* Harry Force is the uncle of superheroine, Donna Carol Force. Maritza is well acquainted with her & her family as well.
* She considers Cole & Marc to be her annoying older brothers.
* She is claustrophobic.