Bethany Hopkins

## Background

### 1987 - 2002: Bethany Hopkins

Just a few months after Bethany Hopkins was born, the world was shaken by multiple bombs being detonated across the globe. Luckily for baby Bethany & her family, they lived in Star City so they were outside of the detonation area. Bethany's father, who was a police officer for the SCPD who made the travel to Portland to pitch in with the search & rescue. Bethany's mother worked as a middle school teacher, so she stayed home with the kids. Her parents' occupations shaped who Bethany was as a person, with her always putting her education first & caring for others.

She was the middle child of the family, having an older sister Kristen & a younger brother TJ by two years. The three of them got along quite well, rarely bickering as most would assume would happen between siblings. Unfortunately, little TJ died after a freak accident when he was six. While he & Bethany were hanging out in the pool of a friend's house, the pool drain's suction malfunctioned trapping both siblings. While she was able to get free, she could not save her brother in time. When the friend's mom came out, all she saw was little Bethany tried to resuscitate her brother.

Bethany became hollow inside after that for some time until she made friends with Chloe Decker, the daughter of her dad's partner John Decker. Whenever their dads were out on patrol & Chloe's mother had to work late, Chloe stayed with the Hopkins & soon became like a sister to Bethany.

When Bethany was thirteen, both her & Chloe's fathers were killed in a gang robbery gone wrong. The two families began to depend on each other more, with the kids basically raising each other. Tragedy struck the Hopkins family again with Bethany's mother & sister were killed in a car accident. Now orphaned, Bethany was welcomed into the home of the Deckers family & many of her father's fellow officers. But Bethany didn't feel at home with any of them so she ran away to live on the streets. Now taking care of herself, Bethany soon became a tough street kid.

### 2002 - 2005: Bethany Hopkins

After three years of living on her own, Bethany attempted to pick-pocket a young man who happened to be in her vicinity. But before Bethany could get her sticky fingers on his wallet, the man grabbed her wrist. Instead of accosting her, he simply talked to her. Confused, Bethany ran off. She continued with her antics for the next few weeks until the same young man tracked her down. After explaining that he wanted to hear her story, Bethany allowed the man to take her to the diner around the corner for coffee. And for the first time in years, Bethany had an actual real conversation.

### 2005 - 2013: Bethany James

The man introduced himself as Earl James, an up & coming preacher in the area. Bethany took a liking to the man & agreed to continue meeting up with him at the local diner. Meetings at the local diner turned into some dinner dates, with one ending with Earl asking Bethany to move off the streets & into his apartment. Bethany took him up on his offer, as she hadn't slept in a proper bed in years. She took over his room while Earl stayed on the couch until Bethany asked him to stay with her on Valentine's Day, leading to the two becoming intimate. Bethany began working at the same local diner they used to meet up at & would spend her free time with Earl at his sermons.

Shortly after Bethany's 21st birthday, Earl proposed. They originally settled for a fall wedding the next year but after Earl's father fell severely sick, they moved the wedding up to the spring so that he could attend. Earl's father passed away shortly after. But as the family said goodbye to one member, they welcomed a new one that summer. Bethany gave birth to a baby boy, naming him Earl James III after his father & grandfather.

Bethany had her own family again & had been the happiest she had ever been in the last decade. However, her husband's job provided some trouble for the family. As mentioned before, Earl James was a preacher & that alone bothered no one. But Earl had begun leading a moral crusade against drugs in their community, resulting in a conflict with the local gangsters. As their lives were constantly threatened, Bethany urged Earl to take a step back from his crusade but he felt that he would be damaging countless lives if he did. Two weeks later, Earl's car was shot up right in front of the church after one of his sermons. And to make matters worse, their four year old son was in the back seat of the car.

### 2013 - 2017: Mayday

Bethany buried her family alongside her father in law then sold their house. After giving the proceeds to the church, she walked herself into the recruitment office & enlisted herself in the army. Bethany focused all her rage into her training. With two years of service, airborne qualification & an above passing score for her physical, she was tapped for a special missions unit called Special Counter-Terrorist Group Delta. The team operated under the United States government to assess threats that required its members working around the limitations of time. Though they generally were combating terrorist threats, most of their efforts were targeted at Cobra, a ruthless terrorist organization. The terrorist group left a particular bad taste in Bethany's mouth, reminding her of the gangs that had taken her family away.

Upon her joining, she was given the name Mayday as her opponents always seemed distressed when she arrived. Bethany was used for multiple missions due to her scrappy personality & shooting skills. Not only was she good with weapons & surviving in various environments, her pick pocketing skills had developed into her being an infiltration expert. But one time, she took on more than she could handle. While looking into Cobra's presence in Kahndaq, the terrorist group detonated a bomb to fake Bethany's death & captured her as a prisoner. Not many details are known about what exactly happened as Beth has refused to speak on that time of her life. After months there, she saw an opening to escape. Using all the skills she ever learned & what energy she had left, she single-handedly massacred her kidnappers. Escaping their prison, Bethany made her way to a military base covered in blood & injuries across her body.

Once her identity was verified, Bethany was flown back to the states for physical & psychological treatments. Though physically okay after the many weeks on base, there were still some psychological barriers for Bethany to get over. At the request & favor of her former commander Hawk, she was to be sent to the United States' military base in Rhelasia for psychological treatment. She was being escorted by two military personnels on Flight 815 to the states when her plane suddenly had some malfunctions.

## Romantic Relationships

* Earl James: Boyfriend (2005 - 2008); Fiancee (2008 - 2009); Husband (2009 - 2013)

## Powers & Abilities

* **Hand to Hand Combat:** Bethany is highly capable combatant. Other than taking out her kidnappers, Bethany has been able to hold her with some of the best with the Joes. The only one who can easily take her out is Snake Eyes.
* **Marksmanship:** Bethany was the Joes' sharpshooter, meaning she was highly proficient in operating firearms & other projectile weapons accurately.
* **Military Operation:** She served in the military for four years & her father also served before becoming a cop.
* **Multilingualism:** She speaks fluent English, Spanish & Arabic. Her paternal grandmother only spoke Spanish, forcing Bethany & her siblings to learn it so they could speak with her.
* **Stealth:** Bethany's pick pocketing skills led to her becoming a stealth & infiltration expert on the Joes.
* **Tactical Analysis:** Not only did she help strategize with the Joes but she now operates as the main strategist for the Challengers. She is highly skilled in thinking of every possible outcome & figuring out the most efficient way in completing their task.
* **Thievery:** Bethany spent three years on the street pick-pocketing various individuals & was never caught until she met her husband.
* **Tychokinesis:** Following the plane crash, the Challengers all gained the ability to subliminally affect probability fields in a psychic manner, allowing "good luck" to happen to them & "bad luck" to their enemies. It is a subconscious ability that usually only affects the user & rarely anything on their enemies. For example, if debris was falling from the sky was about to hit her, she would be hurt if she stood still but if she tried to avoid them, she would move perfectly to avoid every piece about to hit her.
* **Weaponry**
	+ ***Firearms*:** She is familiar with all NATO & Warsaw Pact small arms, as well as domestic civilian arms. She is a qualified expert with the M-14, M-16, and the M-1911A1 auto pistol
	+ ***Swordsmanship*:** Though it is a mystery where she learned this but Bethany is quite skilled sword, even using one a few time out in the field with the Challengers.
	+ ***Throwing*:** Due to her marksmanship skills, Bethany is equipped at throwing projectiles with accuracy.

### Weaknesses

* **Cold Heart:** All the past traumas of her life have made Bethany little to not bothered at all about things. When people mention their sufferings, she mostly stays silent as she has no real reaction to it.
* **Death:** According to Bethany, death has been coming for her since she was seven. She claims that death could never handle the fight she threw at it & everytime it came close to getting her, it didn't stick. However, she does feel that those around her have bad luck after going through the deaths of everyone she's ever loved.

### Ratings

* **Intelligence:** Unknown
* **Strength:** Unknown
* **Speed:** Unknown
* **Occult:** Unknown
* **Weapons:** Unknown
* **Range:** Unknown
* **Strategy:** Unknown
* **Combat:** Unknown
* **TOTAL:** Unknown

## Trivia

* After the loss of her family as a child then her new family as an adult, Bethany has felt she has been in a long fight with death. Going down a new path, she became a tough as nails black ops soldier before she was taken by a terrorist group while working in the Middle East. After single-handedly massacring her kidnappers & escaping from their prison, Bethany was honorably discharged.
* She considers Cobra to be her enemy.

## Notes

* She is a slight composite with Bethany McCade, the wife of Earl James.
* In the comics, Earl James is a preacher in the Los Angeles area.
* Flight 815 is the flight from the *Lost* franchise.