Sarah Gardner

Sarah Gardner (previously going by Obsidia) is a member of the Paragons, currently living in San Francisco. She was closely involved in the Greenville Crisis, becoming a member of the Fugitives after they saved her from Robert Palmer's mind control. She spent 3 years in prison alongside her friends in the aftermath. Once freed, she was sent with them to San Francisco. During her time as part of their team, she was decapitated by the Mutant-type Super known as Meat. Her body was imprisoned by Lalahon, in an obsidian statue in the financial district for three weeks. She emerged in a vengeful rage, her mind joined with Lalahon's. This merged state would end through the efforts of the Paragons, who defeated her and performed a ritual with the help of the Reverend Jobe Jacobs. She is the first known Super to come back from true death, but she lost all of her powers in the process.

## Sarah Gardner

* Post-Revival
* Merged Form
* 2005
* 2002

### Powers:

None / Armor, Obsidian Creation, Volcanic Manipulation

## Relations

### Family:

Matthew Gardner (Father - Deceased), Yumiko Gardner (Mother - Deceased), Karlan Nirazi (Adoptive Father), Benazira Nirazi (Adoptive Mother)

## Biography

### Early Life in Japan

Sarah was born in December 1984, at Yokota Air Base, Western Tokyo, to parents Matthew Gardner and Yumiko Tanaka. Her parents remained unmarried until she was 4, when they would decide to move to the US after Matthew sustained a head injury that affected his eyesight, disqualifying him as a pilot. They initially moved to New York, which may have been were a storm granted Sarah her powers, but the truth is unknown, as she did not realize these powers until much later.

### Gaining Powers

On December 9th, 1984, one day before her 7th birthday, Sarah and her parents were in a horrific car crash on interstate roads. When investigators arrived, they found Sarah inside the wreckage, covered in black, glassy armour, unharmed, while both her parents were dead in the front seat. When a paramedic attempted to pull her from the wreckage, she tried to fight him off, because he wouldn't let her attempt to pull her already dead parents from the burning car. She permanently scarred the paramedic's face with her sharp, clawed hands. At the scene, the only one who could calm her down was Officer Karlan Nirazi, and she refused to leave his side for the rest of the day.

### Adoption & Moving to Greenville

She was put in a foster home, and her life became very chaotic for the next two years. She was a problem child, moved almost on a monthly basis, and never settled in any house. The only consistency in her life was the visits from Officer Nirazi, once a month. He was the only one who remembered her birthday, and made an effort to take away the negative association with the crash. When she turned 9, he gave her a present - adoption papers. Him and his wife were in the process of moving to Greenville, South Carolina, Sarah feared she would never see Karlan again. The couple had never planned on children despite their traditional muslim upbringing. It was only after Benazira let Sarah stay at their house a few times that she agreed to adopt her. The move had come about as a result of Benazira's father and his failing health. Karlan, having realized his aptitude for social work, decided to quit the force and work at a charity in Greenville helping disadvantaged kids. Sarah originally met Benjamin Burke at the community centre Karlan worked at, since this was the only place Ben could play video games. They drifted apart until meeting again at Greenville High, where they would eventually develop mutual crushes in Senior year.

### Time at Greenville High

Sarah's powers were mostly dormant after the crash, only surfacing a few times during her foster years, less in her tweens, but then increasing again in her teens. She got into gymnastics at age 14, and became friends with two girls on the Greenville High team, Ashley Whitmore and Lacy Edwards. The trio got a reputation for being a bit of a clique by the time they were 16. Sarah quickly excelled in Politics class and gymnastics. When she was in Senior year, she fumbled a stunt that should have broken her neck, which was witnessed by her teacher alone. This is how the school came to know about her powers, but it was mostly kept secret from other students. She only told Ashley, feeling that Lacy would take it badly.

### The Greenville Crisis

In January 2002, a storm would hit Greenville and drastically increase the number of Supers in the city. A few of Sarah's mutual friends were among these, such as Mike Haywood and Brad Fisher. They would come to learn she had powers later. The first one to learn was not her friend. His name was Robert Palmer, and Lacy had frequently made fun of him throughout his first year after transfer. Robert was granted powers by the storm, specifically that allowed him to read people's thoughts and command their minds. Robert came to know that Sarah had powers by chance, reading the mind of his history teacher when he gave Sarah an odd look. He would then begin working on her mind, and gradually unravelled her powers secrets. By the time Morph was in hospital and Rob was set on recruiting supers to his side, Sarah essentially acted as his mind-controlled bodyguard. Her powers would become known to the world when she was sent to defend the Greenville Memorial Hospital's entrance, while Rob went inside to retrieve the unconscious Morph. Refusing to stand down, she took a bullet to the head from officers at the scene, but all were amazed and horrified when they saw the black armor covering her head and the bullet falling to the floor. The group that would become known as the Fugitives subdued Sarah and Rob, and fled the scene. The group would battle Robert again, without Sarah, when he took hostages outside the Greenville Theatre, and this time killed him. After Sarah recovered physically, she began to stay with them at their hideout under Greenville Comics. This is where her romance with Benjamin Burke would fully blossom.

## Powers

### Original Powers

Originally, Sarah's powers were straight forward. She could cover her skin in Obsidian armor that was difficult to break, but did not have full coverage. This meant she would move the armor between her blade weapons, needles and body sections as she fought, allowing Mike Haywood to out-strip her armour's speed and deal direct blows in their first fight. She used her gymnastics skill to her advantage, and was very difficult to hit even without her armor. Her signature attack involved two large machete-like blades protruding from her arms.