Switchblade
The Femme Fatal that until lately only looked out for one person, herself. Created by Pulse
Name: Switchblade
Aliases: Karra
Faction: Maximal
Serial Number: 365-682-943
Status: Online
Function: Armed Courier
Beast Mode: Badger
Type: Regular
Gender: Female
Age: 90
Height: 6 ft.
Size Class: Medium
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Beast Mode: Switchblade's Beast Mode is that of a female badger. As such she has a good deal of coarse brown fur, a snout that tapers to a blunt point, and a pair of thick black lines across her head. (They stretch from her nose, run over her eyes like a mask, eventually blending with the darker brown fur at her neck.) Her short yet powerful legs are black in color. Each paw is tipped with a thick set of claws. (Four per foot, only in Beast Mode.) Along with her sharp jagged teeth, the claws are Switchblade's main defense in this mode. Though the claws are also useful in burrowing under the ground, Switchblade rarely uses them for this purpose. Two smaller black stripes mark out a jawline, and at the end of her Beast Mode she possesses a short stubby tail. The only thing marking her apart from a normal badger is a slightly streamlined, more agile frame.
Transformation: For Transformation, Switchblade’s back straightens out, and she rears up into a standing position on her hind legs. Her legs lengthen, and the claws on her hind paws retract. The coarse fur on her back and hindquarters mats down, giving definition to her lower body and legs. Meanwhile, Switchblade's shoulders slide up out of their hunched position, assuming a more Cybertronian form. Just as with the legs, her arms extend a small ways, and her joints rotate for use in Robot Mode. The claws on Switchblade's forepaws retract into her fingertips and the innermost digit of each hand shifts to become an opposable thumb. Her Beast Mode head flips down to become a chest plate. (Eyes, mouth, and nose close; ears turn flush with head on the way down.) Switchblade's Robot head emerges from the space on her neck vacated by her chest plate. As it locks into place, the fur on her shoulders and neck flatten to outline her upper body.
Robot Mode: In Robot Mode, Switchblade stands six feet tall. Except for her head, arms and lower legs, her body is covered with the fur from her Beast Mode. While arms and legs are a glossy black with dark gray detailing, her face looks like a brightly burnished silver mask. Sharp blue optics burn below a sleek gray helmet identical in color to the detailing on her arms and legs. A slightly protruded ridge runs from the front of the helmet over the crown of her head, and down to the edge of the bell shaped flare in back. No Maximal symbol is visible anywhere on her body. (A fact that is strange but not surprising, considering she looks like she's wearing a fur coat in Robot Mode.)
On the whole Switchblade has an athletic, agile looking frame that speaks of speed and maneuverability. Though quite attractive in a rugged sense, switchblade conveys the image of someone who's constantly looking over her shoulder, and more than ready to pull a knife if she doesn't like what she sees. (This keeps most, but not all 'bots at a distance.) As an Armed Courier, Switchblade relies on her speed and agility to win her battles instead of brute force. Because of this she is lightly armored and not powerfully armed.
PERSONALITY
On the outside, Switchblade seems to be a reckless 'bot with a callous disregard for her own life. Throwing herself into the middle of a fight and accepting the most hazardous courier missions just isn't something a sane 'bot does. However, what many Transformers see as disrespect for her safety is in reality something much deeper. Abandonment at an early age instilled a basic fear of others in her. In the back of her head, Karra was afraid that if she ever got close to anyone, they'd abandon her and thus hurt her all over again.
In an effort to prevent her from ever having to go through that situation again, she developed a facade of confidence, toughness, and independence, behind which she could hide her true feelings and fears. She adopted the name Switchblade to reflect the newer, less vulnerable her. Though the defense system worked, it was unfortunately flawed. While it did keep Switchblade from having to reopen old wounds, it also cut her off from close emotional contact with anyone. Over time the cure for her fears did as much emotional damage as the abandonment itself.
Today, Switchblade is a fiercely independent ‘bot who takes great pride in her work. Though she often distances herself from others, she has lately attempted to soften up her image and make a few friends. After so long she is sick and tired of being alone.
Because of the high density of "classified" work she did while at Sirius, Switchblade had developed a set of professional morals that she applies to each accepted mission. They basically amount to privacy for the client and his / her information, and delivery no matter what the personal risk. Switchblade does not look at what she is given to transport, nor does she back out of a contract once finalized. She would consider it in bad taste. The market for armed couriers isn’t large, but it's there, so Switchblade makes sure she does every job right, and to the best of her abilities. It's just good business.
HISTORY
Today Switchblade is a tough street smart 'bot who prefers to handle things herself. She was not always like this however. In fact, her real name isn't even Switchblade.
Originally brought online as Karra, she was placed in the care of two older Maximals until such a time as she could care for herself. The young 'bot was thin and fragile as Transformers went. She was to become a medical technician eventually, her physical attributes making anything more demanding nearly unthinkable. Karra was never intended to be a fighter of any kind.
After a few month of stability however, things began to go wrong. For reasons Karra never learned, her foster parents abandoned her to the streets of Cybertron one evening as she slept.
Waking up in a strange place, Karra was at a loss for what to do. Though still young and very confused, she eventually figured out what must have happened to her. The powerful sense o rejection hurt her deeply. Alone, dirty, and cold, she swore to herself that she would never again allow a 'bot to hurt her as she had just been hurt. Karra quickly adopted a tough confidant bearing in order to hide the pain she felt and to prevent anyone from getting close enough to abandon her again. She took the name Switchblade to reflect the newer, tougher image of her.
Karra, now known as Switchblade adapted to her surroundings. Though she lived the life of a street urchin, she grew stronger and more capable with time. Switchblade learned to feel at home even in the worst parts of Cybertron, and how to handle herself in a fight. Eventually she became so adept at moving around every part of the planet, that Sirius, an organization that specialized in data gathering, recruited her. After extensive screening, she was given the position of Armed Courier. It was her task to ferry those pieces of information too confidential to risk on even a well-encrypted transmission. The work was dangerous, but it paid well. Switchblade excelled at her work and quickly gained a reputation for accepting only the toughest missions.
Everything was going fine for her until Sirius contracted with the Maximal military to transfer top secret new weapons data from an out of the way research facility. Because of the sensitive nature of the data, it was decided that transmitting the information over normal lines was unsatisfactory. Sirius arranged for an armed courier to pick up the plans and deliver them to a designated location. Due to the potential danger from Predacon forces, Switchblade was the natural choice for courier.
Unfortunately, in this instance, Sirius' security precautions weren't as tight as it needed to be. Hacking into Sirius’s computer network, a Pred counter intelligence unit discovered both Sirius' location and the name of the intended courier - Switchblade.
Scant hours after learning this information, a Predacon strike force infiltrated the Sirius home base in an attempt to waylay the courier and replace Switchblade with one of their own. Though they succeeded in destroying the facility, they arrived only to find that Switchblade had departed just hours before their arrival. Their attempts to discover more information on Switchblade, though largely unsuccessful, yielded them a physical description of her. They also were able to learn the pick up point for the info: the small Maximal research station Daedelus.
The Preds immediately dispatched an operative with orders to recover the weapons data at all costs. The job fell to a frightful looking Gargoyle Fuzor named Gabriel. The skillful Predacon picked up Switchblade's trail at a mid sized Cybertronian star port and proceeded to follow her to the research facility. The fuzor positioned himself in such a fashion that he could keep his eyes on Switchblade without being seen. Though Switchblade was unaware of it, the 'bot planned to let her live just long enough to recover the data for him.
Fortunately for Switchblade, the Predacon became infatuated with her. Even after she successfully retrieved her cargo, Gabriel could simply not bring himself to kill her. Instead, he sent Switchblade a transmission tailored to look like it came from a Sirius operative. In it he alerted her that Sirius had been destroyed and of the Predacon team attempting to set a trap for her.
Dropping the data off at the nearest Maximal installation, Switchblade worked to put distance between her and Sirius. Just in case any Predacons might still be looking for her. Though she succeeded in shaking the Pred unit that was after her, she was never able to slip away from Gabriel. Every so often when Switchblade runs across a problem, the problem (or person it’s associated with) disappears. She credits her good fortune to a “Guardian Angel” who sometimes watches over her.
Switchblade once again began to accept courier missions, this time from her former competitors. Once again she chose only the hardest and most dangerous. Lately however, her Guardian Angel has been conspicuously absent. Feeling a type of abandonment again she continues to risk her life unnecessarily. She believes that if she can keep herself in enough danger, her protector will have to stay close to keep her alive.
SPECIALTIES:
1) Hand to Hand Combat
2) Knife Combat
3) Data Retrieval / Delivery
4) Armed Courier
-Hand to Hand Combat: In her capacity as an armed courier, Switchblade needed to be mobile; ready to move at a moments notice. Weighing herself down with tons of firepower would not only restrict her speed and agility, but would also tend to draw more attention than you want if you're carrying important info. However, the dangers of her profession required that she have some way to defend herself. Therefore Sirius ran her through rigorous Hand to Hand Combat courses, until she was proficient enough to take out (or at least defend herself against) any 'bot without a weapon of her own.
Switchblade actually enjoyed the courses. They taught her how to anticipate another’s moves before they moved, and several ways to disarm someone. Though she has a firm backing in all the major forms of Hand to Hand Combat, the style she uses is distinctly her own. It is a more freeform style that incorporates the skills of the various disciplines with street fighting techniques she came into contact with before Sirius. Over the years she has nearly perfected this kind of fighting. In battle, her shifting attacks, fluid motion, and knack for improvisation are tough, if not impossible to beat.
-Close Quarters Knife Fighting: Often enough, Switchblades Hand to Hand skills weren't enough to get the job done quickly. So she added extensive knife training as a supplement. Though not as far ranging as her Hand to hand training, what Switchblade does know how to do she does extremely well. Her knife wielding skills come as a deadly surprise to many larger 'bots who underestimate her ability to defend herself. She is an expert in the use of the Vibroknife, Combat Knife, Scaler (An ultra thin, ultra tough, ultra sharp blade that closely resembles a fish scaler), and (her favorite) throwing knives. If Switchblade was extremely dangerous without a weapon, she is deadly with her knives. Like her Hand to Hand Combat technique, Switchblade’s method of blade fighting is very loose and improvisational.
-Data Retrieval / Delivery: Because of her work in the information gathering industry, Switchblade has become accustomed to the ins and outs of data retrieval and delivery. For the most part she can understand what she extracts, (even technical data she is unfamiliar with) and over time has gained a near encyclopedic knowledge of codes and encryption’s.
-Armed Courier: This is Switchblade’s profession, and she is very good at what she does. Over time she has developed a reputation for accepting only the most dangerous missions. She has plenty of experience and knows how to conduct herself when alone and in possession of valuable information. In a career that has involved hundreds of deliveries, she has only failed to complete a small handful of her missions.
STATISTICAL INFORMATION:
Firepower: 4
Aim: 8
Discipline: 9
Intelligence: 7
Stamina: 7
Strength: 5
Skill: 10
Speed: 7
Luck: 6
Total: 63
WEAPONRY / SPECIAL ABILITIES
-Throwing Knives: Each knife is approximately 7 inches long, with a short black grip, long tapering double edged blade, and no hilt. Switchblade carries five of them at any given time. One on each arm, one on each leg, and one on her left hip. They are all expertly weighted for throwing, and Switchblade is an expert with them. She rarely if ever misses. (Her aim is 8, but this higher ability applies specially to her knife training.) Though not honed to a monomolecular edge, each blade is very strong and very sharp. Switchblade's effective range is 20 yards. Throwing at full force under 10 yards, the blades are tough enough to pierce Transmetal armor.
-Vibro Knife: In a special hip carrier on her right side, Switchblade still carries the Vibroblade she was issued while working for Sirius. The knife has a four and a half inch grip, a boxy rectangular hilt one fourth inch thick, and a blade that brings the total length to about twelve and a half inches. When disengaged, the weapon is aquward feeling; all its weight in the handle and net to none in the fragile looking blade. In this state it is next to useless. When activated the blade begins to vibrate at an incredible rate, producing a faint hum and blurring the image of the blade itself. While activated, the Vibro Knife can cut through nearly anything in its path. (Even Transmetal II armor, though Switchblade being able to put enough force behind the blade to do so is highly unlikely.) This includes the user for that reason, Switchblade is very careful when it is in use. She has extensive training in how to fight with the blade however, and can use it to great advantage in a battle.
-Large Stopper Pistol: Though small in size (about as large as a fist), this snub-nosed weapon carries a high degree of stopping power. Its specially designed rounds expand to their full size almost immediately after being fired from the gun. At close range, it is like getting hit by a slug, though the bullet isn't any larger than a '22 rifle's. The gun is semi-automatic and accepts a bottom-loading clip of 15 rounds each. Switchblade carries 3 clips at a time (in addition to one in the gun) in a compartment in her upper left arm. Effective range is 40 yards. (Rounds can bludgeon their way through normal armor at nearly full range and through Transmetal armor at point blank.) The gun is stored on her right hip in front of her Vibro Knife.
EQUIPMENT
-Canister: a tubular canister of brushed metal used for storing such small sensitive items as microchips, data pads, (etc.), for transport. It has a small keypad lock on the cap end and opens up like a thermos. The canister can be set to destroy its cargo if tampered with or opened by anyone but Switchblade. Switchblade carries it on a belt like hook-up at the back of her waist.
COMMANDERS NOTES
Brighton: "That badger's suicidal. It's just a matter of time before she gets herself killed. An' when she goes, it'll probably be with something important in that can of hers."
(Former head of Sirius Data. Now deceased.)
Graphics Provided by Riboflavin
