Max Guevara

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Background

Powers and Abilities

Max is almost peak human, with amazingly high dexterity and strength. She can take out policemen and soldiers without breaking a sweat. What she lost in military training, she more than made up for in the street (as evidenced when she beat her clone, 453, in a fight).

She is extremely fast, and has heightened senses. Her thievery skills are without compare.

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Other characteristics

During the first series, Max depended on a drug called Tryptophan, without it she would occasionally suffer seizures. In DC Heroes terms, all Dice Actions would be +3 CS, and she could only take one action per turn.

Also, 2-3 times a year she would go into heat, much like a cat, where she gained a Catastrophic Irrational Attraction to Shagging. This lasted for one day or until she’d get a good bonk. In the second series, neither of these problems occur.

Video

The theme song for the show, with reasonably illustrative footage. It’s low res, but a lot of material from the early 2000s is.

History

The history of 452 begins in Gillette, Wyoming, at a covert military installation known as Manticore. The genetics lab was founded to create super-soldiers, from human looking field agents, to wildly mutated half animal creations.

The base was run by Lydecker, a man who was harsh and cruel to his children in his quest to train them. His punishments included death to insubordinate children, as well as death to those who were not ’perfect‘.

The head geneticist was a man known as Sandeman, and it was his work that eventually lead to the creation of all the mutants. His first known work was Joshua, a half man half dog hybrid.

The X-5 series of super soldiers came slightly after. These were mutants that looked human, but were bordering on physically perfect. Some, and maybe all, were made using feline DNA to give them greater dexterity, and heightened vision. These soldiers were created in pairs, although they were kept apart and raised with no knowledge of the other twin.

One of these soldiers was 452, but she was slightly different. Lydecker had used some of his wife’s DNA in the creation of 452 and her clone 453. But more startling was that Sandeman had specially engineered 452’s DNA as part of some biblical prophecy that would one day save the world.

As an effect of this alteration 452 contains no junk DNA at all.

Escape of the X-5s

The X-5 series were raised and trained as soldiers. But in 2009, witnessing the cruelty of Lydecker, a team of twelve X-5’s escaped from Manticore. 452 was aided in her escape by a woman named Hannah Sukova, a scientist at Manticore. The X-5’s split up, and mostly tried to find a place in the world.

At this time, the United States of America suffered a terrorist attack, known as the Pulse. It wiped out much of the current technology and financial centers, turning the USA into a Third World country. It was in this world that 452 found herself, and she rechristened herself Max Guerava, and carved a life for herself.

Living in Seattle she found a job with a bike messenger company Jam Pony. This allowed her to travel through the various sectors of the city unchallenged by the corrupt police department. Her real money making came through cat burglary, using her fantastic skills to steal pretty much anything she wanted.

On one job, in 2019, she tried to rob from the apartment of Logan Cale. Cale was a freedom fighter known as Eyes Only who used cable hacks to let the populace of Seattle know about the corruption within their city. After the theft, Logan tracked down Max, and they formed a strong relationship.

Max used her abilities to help Logan, and he used his resources to help Max discover the origins of her creation.

Return to Manticore

The more they worked together the greater the attachment became between them. After numerous adventures together, and encountering several of her fellow escapees, Max launched an assault on Manticore to free other transgenics.

Aided by X-5 Zack, Logan, and strangely, Lydecker, they assaulted Manticore. However Max was badly wounded, and Zack gave his life to save her. Logan and Lydecker escaped.

Spending several months back in training, Max was extremely resistant to being broken in. The new project director infected Max with a virus tailored to kill Logan, and let her escape. As hoped Max went straight to Logan, but one touch and he started dying.

With little choice, Max went back to Manticore to get the antidote. She ended up freeing all the transgenic prisoners and destroying Manticore. Max saved Logan, but she was still infected and could not touch him.

For the next few months, she was joined by fellow mutants, Alec, another X-5, and the human dog Joshua. These months were hard as the knowledge of transgenics became public, and the people of Seattle took to lynch mobs in trying to dispose of all the “evil mutants”.

This was complicated as Max became chased by a mysterious organization who themselves were practically perfect specimens of humanity through 5,000 years of perfect breeding.

Mutate rebellion

Things came to a head when the Max and several of her transgenic buddies were trapped in her place of work, Jam Pony, by the police and government agencies. In the following battle, the transgenics took a stand in a place within Seattle called Terminus City. The mutants raised their flag and declared they would no longer run or hide. Max became unofficial leader of this group, and how it turned out is yet to be discovered…

Description

A perfect body, hair down below the shoulders (to cover her barcode tattoo), pouting lips, what more can I say ? When working (at her less legal jobs) she normally wears practical, but sexy, dark catsuits.

During the day, she can be found in jogging bottoms, baggy shirts, and other youthful attire for the time. I’m sure the illos can put it better than me.

Personality

Max is nice, friendly, sweet, all round nice girl. She’s always willing to help her friends, but always ready with a sarcastic remark.

Early on Max tended to be self-motivated. But as the series developed, she started looking out for everybody and putting her powers to good use rather than personal gain.

If angered, she can be extremely dangerous. And nobody better mess with her Kawasaki Ninja 650 – the one thing she probably cares more about than Logan.

Quotes

“Guys are the weaker sex.”

“You’re so stupid, the word ‘special’ comes to mind”

Max: “Think I’ll call you Alec, as in Smart Alec.”
X5-494: “I can live with that.”
Max: “Good, ‘cuz my second choice was Dick.”

DC Universe History

Max is another fine product of Cadmus, the people who brought you Superboy. When what passes for DNA in Wonder Woman and Donna Troy fell into the hands of the mad scientists as the Cadmus Project they couldn’t resist trying to insert sections of it into clones.

Predictably, those clones escaped and despite the best efforts of the cleaner teams many were able to disappear.

Some time later one of the clones ends up working in one of the worst slums of Brick City. She encounters a crusading underground journalist named Logan whose determination to expose the corruption at the heart of the Luthor empire cost him his legs. And now that Lex Luthor is President, Logan’s very life is under threat.

Using the promise of uncovering her secret origins and helping her maintain her out of kilter biochemistry Logan convinces Max to assist his quixotic crusade from time to time.

By Nick Yankovec.

Source of Character: Dark Angel TV series (played by Jessica Alba).

Helper(s): Jay Myers (DC history), Roy Cowan, Ethan Roe, David Johnston.