Relay

## Appearances

### Appears In

Gridrunner 1: Gridrunner, Gridrunner 2: Abort, Gridrunner 3: Corrupted, Gridrunner 4: Offline

### Debut

Gridrunner 1: Gridrunner

**Relay** (born Emberly Song) is one of the younger members of the Gridrunners and often plays the role of a scout.

## Biography

### Personality

Always bubbly and sarcastic, Relay is just happy to be there, and wants others to have as much fun as she is. She is unafraid to a fault and often quick to action, though her mind is sharper than her split tongue. She wastes no time deliberating and would rather do something or not do it than hang around debating, which the more seasoned members of the team view as a sign that she has some maturing to do yet.

Relay uses she/her pronouns but considers herself non-binary. She is in a constant state of changing her outward appearance to suit how she sees herself, and there is basically no modification that she will not consider.

### Appearance

Spiked pixie haircut, shaved on the sides and long on top, usually dyed an unnatural color like green or pink. Her eyes are violet due to augments. Both legs are metallic mods, and her right arm and shoulder are completely cybernetic. What remains of her natural body is decorated in tattoos, which cover her entire back and three-quarters of her left arm. In addition, Relay has many other body mods including many piercings, gauged ears, and a bifurcated tongue.

In terms of clothing, Relay often wears fishnet stockings to show off her cybernetic legs, accompanied by black boots or black sneakers. She prefers tight-fitting shirts with very short sleeves, and usually wears fishnet arm sleeves in addition to many rings on her fingers. She also has an affinity for a long black trench coat that is always open and flowing. Her body is lean and quick.

#### Augments

Many. Although Relay is one of the youngest of the Gridrunners, she is also one of the most modded - mostly due to being ran over by an MPU cruiser in her youth. Both of her legs had to be replaced near the hip joint, her right arm and shoulder were destroyed and replaced, several internal organs including her stomach and intestines, and both of her eyes have been heavily modded to restore her vision which was affected by her injuries. She also has a variety of neural implants which are necessary for the rest of her body to function.

Additionally, Relay has plenty of non-essential modifications to her body, which include many tattoos, piercings, and a split tongue. She plans to keep changing herself to sculpt her outward appearance to match how she feels about herself on the inside.

## History

### Early Life

Born to wealthy parents who worked for Wellspring Systems, Emberly found herself on her own and on the run at the age of 7 when both her parents were betrayed by Wellspring and assassinated. She took refuge in Nest-44, living on her own when she could not find anyone to take her in. This experience, although painful and traumatic, hardened her and instilled a deep hatred for uncaring corporations, especially Wellspring.

### Attack on Wellspring and Injury

At age 17 - ten years after the murder of her parents - Emberly and half a dozen others without the CyberGen mod organized an attack against then Wellspring CEO, Jenna Ventura. The attack severly injured Ventura, but ultimately failed, and everyone who participated was killed in violent retaliation by MPUs. Emberly, going by the code name Relay, was struck down and ran over by an MPU cruiser, which dragged her thirty yards before stopping. Her injuries were extensive and critical, and her body was dumped in a river with the others. She was found by the Gridrunners and brought to Nest-47 to undergo immediate life-saving procedures.

Following her recovery, Relay was left with no legs and only one arm, with limited vision and mobility. Her stomach and intestines had to be replaced with artificial organs. Being that she had never received the CyberGen mod implant due to bring on the run for most of her life, her body was unable to take the prostheses and neural mods necessary to get her functioning again as normal. She requested to voluntarily undergo the CyberGen procedure, which was conducted by Dex and his team at Gridrunner HQ.

### Joining the Gridrunners

During the many months where Relay was without mods following her injuries, she came to understand that her attempt on Jenna Ventura's life failed because the team she was with was not nearly well-enough organized, and certainly bested in terms of strength and firepower. Once Wellspring MPUs attacked, it was all over. She needed to get with people who were stronger and better organized. Thus, Relay joined with the Gridrunners.

In the lead-up to the assassination attempt on Jenna Ventura, Relay studied the writing her parents had done when they worked for Wellspring. Although they were not high-up in the ruling order, they had access to vital pieces of information about the business and their servers, which Relay memorized. This information is crucial to the Gridrunners, who had previously lacked such detailed information on the systems of Wellspring. Relay worked close with Echo, the best hacker presently with the Gridrunners, so the team could (hopefully) gain an upper hand in the fight.

## Notes and Trivia

* Relay's coordinated strike on Jenna Ventura is the event which led to Donovan Cyrek usurping control of Wellspring Systems and becoming the new CEO.