Paula Nguyen

## Background

### 1971 - 1986: Paula Nguyen

Paula was born to a French father & a Vietnamese mother. Her father was terrible to her, constantly reminding her that he did not want her. By the time she was nine, Paula would become aware of the fact that the man was not her father & that her mother had been with another man prior to her death.

Her so called father treated her without care of any kind & when the opportunity presented itself, he sold her into slavery to make a quick buck. In short, Paula had an unhappy childhood & this trauma ultimately drove her insane. But is also would pave the way into her becoming one of the world's best mercenaries.

Though she never knew his name, Paula was bought by a man she knew as Master. Struggling with torments of being a slave, she killed the man shortly after being bought, swearing that no man would ever rule her.

At eleven, Paula wandered through Asia until she encountered Wen Ch'ang. A freedom fighter & war veteran of the Vietnam War, the man informally adopted the young girl. Upon being adopted, she immediately was taught in guerrilla fighting & archery. She spent hours upon hours practicing with the bow & arrow to not only be a hunter like him, but a specialist.

At thirteen, Paula was married off to Kruen Musenda, an African assassin known as Spitting Cobra. He taught her much about poisons but maybe too much. After two years of marriage, Paula poisoned Kruen, resulting in his death.

### 1986 - 1988: Tigress

Not long after killing her husband, Paula somehow crossed paths with the League of Shadows. Impressed with her ability to take out multiple assassins, she was recruited by Talia al Ghul to join their ranks & took on the name Tigress.

Trained to become an assassin, Paula quickly made a name for herself as one of the best recruits as her abilities of acrobatics, archery & gymnastics were unmatched. Once finished with her training, she was given the task of training the new recruits. Though some were good, she was particularly impressed with the new recruit of the name Lawrence Crock. Though he was not graceful like her, his brute force of strength & marksmanship made him one of the few people that could best her in battle though the two would go back & forth.

Eventually, their relationship moved from the mat to the sheets & the two were married by the decree of Ra's al Ghul. As the two quickly rose through the ranks, Ra's decided to give them a new task. In the wake of the bombings across the world, he sent them to Gotham for Lawrence to recruit new members while Paula handled the logistics. Though they lived in Gotham, the two frequently travelled for various tasks but they eventually came to a stop after a third party was introduced. Paula was pregnant.

### 1988 - 1999: Tigress

Their first daughter, Jade was born on Infinity Island by their doctors but with Ra's permission, Paula wished to return to Gotham. A few years later, they would welcome another daughter by the name of Artemis.

Though mainly in Gotham, the family constantly travelled between there & Infinity Island when deemed necessary by Ra's or his daughters. Her & Lawrence argued over moving back but she refused to leave Gotham. Though he would've done anything to return, his wish came about in a way he didn't desire.

During one of their late night business meetings, the police raided their spot. As shots were being thrown, Paula would take one to the back, leaving her paralyzed. Lawrence went to grab her but she told him that she would slow him down & that he needed to take care of the girls. For once, he listened & regretfully left Paula. After being patched up by the doctors, Paula was sentenced to prison. As they couldn't stick that many charges on her, she was sentenced to six years. Still devoted, she never said a word about Ra's or the League. As she sat in prison waiting for her time to be up, her husband had moved their family back to Infinity Island.

### 1999 - 2012: Paula Nguyen

Upon finishing her time in prison, Paula immediately returned to Gotham in 2004. She requested to stay here as her paralysis would prevent her from any training & she wanted to watch over her daughter Artemis who recently left the shadows. Ra's granted her request & gave her the role of handling all logistics with America.

After earning her daughter's trust (who also moved in with her) & even many members of the League, people began to relax around her & even reveal information that she wouldn't normally be privy to. When her time came to return to the Shadows, she made sure her daughter was set. Seeing her daughter was happy as a new mother & recent college graduation, Paula faked her death with a heart attack. After the doctors declared her dead, members of the League switched her body prior to the cremation & Paula returned to Infinity Island. Satisfied with her reports, Ra’s allowed her to use the Lazarus Pit to restore her paralysis.

## Romantic Relationships

* Kruen Musenda: Husband (1983 - 1985)
* Lawrence Crock: Lover (1987 - 1988); Husband (1988 - )

## Powers & Abilities

* **Above Average Human Condition:** Paula has trained her body since she was a young child & continued to keep her body in shape since then. After her paralysis, her body somewhat withered away. Since her bath in the Lazarus Pit, she is just as conditioned, if not more than, as she was in her prime.
	+ ***Acrobatics*:** Her joints are extremely flexible, making her a skilled acrobat.
	+ ***Hand to Hand Combat*:** Paula is a world class combatant & is well versed in various forms of fighting. Her skills were so impressive that after completing her training, she became the mentor for the new recruits.
* **Archery:** Since a young age, she practiced with a bow & arrow. In no time, she quickly became a specialist.
* **Marksmanship:** Paula has proven to be highly skilled in the use of firearms, being able to shoot a cell phone out of one's hand.
* **Multilingualism:** She is fluent in English, Arabic, Vietnamese, Spanish, Japanese, French & Chinese.
* **Swordsmanship:** Due to her training with the League of Assassins, Paula advanced her skills to become an exceptional swordsman. She has killed many of her fellow assassins with ease.
* **Tactical Analysis:** After Pala became paralyzed, she became the League's head of logistics. She planned complex missions to the details.
* **Toxicology:** Paula learned most of what she knows about poisons from her first husband. She has become an expert, even killing her first husband with the skills he taught her.
* **Tracking:** She is a master tracker, capable of tracking down her prey with uncanny skill. In addition, she had great skill in training wild animals to help track her prey.
* **Crossbow:** During her time as Tigress, she wielded a hand crossbow. It was lightweight, and was equipped to fire either regular or specially-tipped bolts. She has also been known to use throwing nets & bolos to trap her prey.

### Weaknesses

* **Restricted Mobility (formerly):** After taking a bullet during a meeting gone bad, Paula was paralyzed. She remained this way until Ra's granted her permission to use the lazarus pit.

### Ratings

* **Intelligence:** 4 - Trained / Learned
* **Strength:** 4 - Trained / Learned
* **Speed:** 4 - Trained / Learned
* **Occult:** 3 - Average / Basic
* **Weapons:** 6 - Expert / Advanced
* **Range:** 4 - Trained / Learned
* **Strategy:** 5 - High / Exceptional
* **Combat:** 6 - Expert / Advanced
* **TOTAL:** 123 - Threat Level 3 / General Threat (Mrs. Menace); 78 - Threat Level 2 / Low Threat (paralysis)

## Trivia

* There is some speculation that she is in fact alive & back with the League of Shadows. Bruce also suspected this as he knew her prior to her paralysis & recognized her fighting skills. He & Oliver discussed but it was not Bruce's place to tell. Oliver has decided not to share this information with Artemis until he is sure.
* Paula was believed to have been killed in May of 2012.
* Her & Lawrence were legally separated but the two never fell out of love. Upon her return to the Shadows & bathing in the lazarus pits, the two picked up where they left off.

## Notes

* Her parents are originally Jade Nguyen's parents in the *Post-Crisis* continuity.
* Paula being the daughter of Edward Blake is a nod to roysovitch's Earth-27. In Watchmen, the name of the Vietnamese women he impregnated was Liao Lin.