Ballistic
(Cassandra Lane)
Context
Ballistic appeared in 1992, when Image’s comic book Cyberforce debuted. Cyberforce was the core book of what became the Top Cow comics book universe, before they pivoted toward the Witchblade books and their many reboots.
Though Ballistic was mostly a stereotypical “bad girl” — that was a thing in early 1990s comic books — she had a believable little extra something. And the title of the story arc about her (“assault with a deadly woman”) was cool in its own cheesy way.
These are late 1990s or early 2000s notes, so they’re not as thorough as our more recent work.
Advertisement
Background
- Real Name: Cassandra Lane.
- Marital Status: Single.
- Known Relatives: Carin (aka Velocity, sister), Frank Taylor (father, deceased).
- Group Affiliation: Cyberforce ally.
- Base Of Operations: Mobile, preferably on a Harley.
- Height: 5’9” Weight: 125lbs.
- Eyes: One blue, one solid, glowing red cyber-eye. Hair: Blonde
Powers and Abilities
Ballistic is a mutant with superhuman hand-eye coordination (and thus shooting ability). On top of that, she was turned into a cyborg with impressive combat abilities.
Later in her career, she gained one of those ever-popular symbiote fragments. It gave her those ever-popular regenerative abilities and made her immune to vampirism.
One trick she has sometimes used is hurling small objects with her cyberarm, thus turning them into deadly projectiles.
Advertisement
History
Cassy apparently had a miserable childhood. She didn’t know her mother, and her father was abusive.
The only thing she could do well was shooting things. But her career in sports (I have a version saying that she was a star pitcher, another that she was part of the US Olympic shooting team) went down in the toilet. That happened when her boyfriend beat her in a fit of jealousy, destroying her good eye and irremediably breaking her left arm.
After some aimless years, she was recruited by Cyberdata, and evil corporation. Lane had her memories erased in order to become a SHOC, a soulless cybernetic killing machine. They cybernetically replaced her arm and eye.
She met Cyberforce when attempting to recruit Velocity – whom she would later learn was her sister. Lane would eventually be freed of her SHOC conditioning, regaining her free will.
Ballistics is currently wandering the US, and is loosely associated with Cyberforce.
Description
When not in costume, she dresses for lowbrow sex-appeal. When in costume, ditto.
Personality
Ballistics is somewhat crude and quite confused. She actually likes seediness. She’s hurt inside by hazy yet horrible memories of what she’s done as a SHOC.
Her basic strategy is to tough everything out in order to ignore her very real problems. She enjoys being a bad girl with an attitude, and drowns the rest in beer and bar brawls. She’s a self-centred junkie, and her taste in men sucks.
Quotes
“Nice tie — looks good on you … I like the way it feels. That’s solid oak, isn’t it ? I can tell.” (holding the aforementioned tie, she then slams her interlocutor’s face against the aforementioned oak table)
DC Universe History
Replace Cyberdata with Lexcorp, and here you go ! The SHOC become variations on the Team Luthor theme, and the Kraken (for those of you who read Cyberforce) would have been a master weapon intended against Superman.
The Cyberdata mess in the last few months of 1996 would be replaced by the seeming death of Luthor and the appearance of Luthor II. So you ’ll have to position Cyberforce in the early 1990s. Which is when they belong, anyway.
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Ballistic
| Dex: 08 | Str: 03 | Bod: 06 | Motivation: Unwanted power |
| Int: 04 | Wil: 04 | Min: 05 | Occupation: Adventurer |
| Inf: 05 | Aur: 03 | Spi: 03 | Resources: 004 |
| Init: 019 | HP: 040 |
Powers:
Invulnerability: 08, Regeneration: 07, Telescopic vision: 04, Vampirism immunity: 12
Skills:
Acrobatics*: 08, Charisma (Intimidation, interrogation): 05, Detective: 04, Military science (Danger rec): 05, Thief (Security systems, stealth): 07, Vehicles (Land)*: 08, Weaponry (Missile, firearms): 11
Advantages:
Lightning Reflexes, Sharp Eye.
Connections:
Cyberforce (Low).
Drawbacks:
MIA toward having an attitude, MIA toward alcohol, SIA toward drugs, Guilt (past as a SHOC), Mistrust (same), Dependent (Velocity, 10pts).
Equipment:
- Cybernetic arm [BODY 07, /STR/ 06, Projectile weapons: 04, Limitation : Projectile weapons only works if she can grab some small object and hurl it (-1)].
- Plasma pistol [BODY 05, Energy blast: 07, R#2].
Helper(s): Wouter Vlemmings’s site, William C Wendel, Andrew J. Aitken.
Source of Character: Cyberforce (Image Comics, Top Cow Universe).