Flint

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Background

Powers and Abilities

Flint’s skin is rock-hard, and she seems to be pretty much invulnerable. Bullets affect her about as much as a stiff rain, and even a rocket can at most knock her back and damage her costume. Dropping her from a great height will result in a crater and an unfazed Flint.

She does seem more vulnerable to energy weapons, though. Both the Merovingian and Baron Chaos proved able to stun her.

Lethal blows

Flint doesn’t display extreme super-strength. Her ability to lift heavy objects seem roughly on par with Spider-Man’s and most bricks  seem stronger than she is. Yet her blows have impressive power. This is presumably a combination of her strength, speed and rock-hard hands.

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She can behead a normal man in a single punch. Flint has also been known to kill bulletproof superhumans with a good rush-by punch to the jaw, though she likely can’t do that consistently. She can also wreck armoured vehicles.

Since she is able to drive her fingers into solid rock, this is the Claws power in DC Heroes RPG terms. This creates a weak spot, as she can only use her baseline strength if she’s trying to subdue rather than kill. When taking out the Engineer she worked around that problem by using a special club with which she could hit even harder with it than with her fists.

Fast like a rock

During the 2000s, Flint repeatedly demonstrated superspeed. She can do simple things faster than humanly possible (such as changing clothes). And is superhumanly good at catching projectiles in mid-flight – including RPGs and Citizen Soldier’s shield.

She is also proficient at grabbing large objects then throwing them with great fluidity, power and accuracy. If lacking a nearby object to throw, she can create a vectorised shockwave by slamming her hands together. The resultant blast of pressurised air is enough to break the back of a normal man.

History

Flint is Kenyan, and has survived much of the worst in Kenya’s recent history . Her father and brother were killed in border skirmishes with Tanzania in the mid 1970s, and her mother was murdered two years later. She thus was brought up as a ward of the State.

Her remarkable strength was noticed early. She was thought as a potential Olympic competitor for Kenya. A few years after, her Seedling  powers began to emerge, and she was noticed by the UN.

Since Flint seems knowledgeable about classic and modern philosophy, it is likely she lived in moved to town (almost certainly Nairobi, which she knows well) to become a student, like her mother. This is presumably as a philosophy student she learned passable French. And possibly German, although she has not yet demonstrated skills in Goethe’s language.

Nations united

When the superhuman members of the StormWatch agency were decimated during the Despot crisis, the UN found itself facing a severe shortage in metahuman manpower. Thus, they hired or recruited various superhumans from all over the world. Most of these rookies didn’t make it through the first few missions. But a group of four operatives made it as interim StormWatch agents :

• Blademaster.
• Swift.
• Comanche.
• Flint.

Half the team made it to full StormWatch operative status after the superhuman assets were reorganized. Swift joined StormWatch Black (the small intel/black bag team which would become the seed of the Authority) while Flint joined StormWatch Red. This small team was headed by Fahrenheit and included the terrifying woman known as Rose Tattoo, apparent avatar of murder.

StormWatch Red

At this point, Bendix’s madness was taking its toll. And the UN Special Security Council (a small, clandestine cabal of billionaires who had taken control of the UN) was getting more confident. Thus, StormWatch Red was increasingly used as the UN’s red right hand, killing and destroying in violation of international law, and StormWatch ops became ruthless.

The organization eventually went into a crisis when the madness of Bendix became obvious, and Jenny Sparks from StormWatch Black had to kill him and assume command.

A new StormWatch rose from the ashes of Bendix’s organisation. It was headed by Jackson King, who succeeded Bendix as StormWatch’s Weatherman. Flint became a core member of the SPB team.

No one can hear you scream

Despite the considerable talents on roster, this version of StormWatch lasted for but a few months. As they intercepted a massive asteroid getting awfully close to Earth, StormWatch’s super-satellite invaded by hundreds of aliens.

The situation quickly became catastrophic. Fahrenheit and most of the crew died. An intervention by the WildCATs allowed the surviving StormWatch personnel to reach the bridge and evacuate. Winter remained behind to pilot the compromised station into the Sun, incinerating the Aliens.

Flint fell during the early hours of the battle, defending the escape pods so the crew could evacuate. She burst open an alien with a punch, but the acid blood of the creature proved capable of wounding even her. She fell back into an escape pod, which then launched as she was struggling to stop the acid from burning her.

Victoria was safe, but dismayed by her involuntary retreat from the battlefield. The damage was enough to leave her with large, permanent scars on the face and shoulder.

Retired

At that point, StormWatch was shut down. The UN didn’t have a red cent to pay for a new base and personnel, and the UN Special Security Council didn’t wish to finance a new operation.

StormWatch Black became the Authority. The only other superhuman operatives of StormWatch were Jackson King, Christine Trelane and Victoria N’Gengi (although a few survivors from support teams had minor powers – such as Seeker). They retained a reserve status, but StormWatch was dead.

After StormWatch fell, Flint was only seen once, at the marriage of King and Trelane. Although she was happy to be reunited with Jenny Sparks and Swift, she seemed bitter about so many people not even remembering StormWatch.

Achilles

In 2002, as the threat from superhuman operatives failed to recede, the UN assembled a new superhuman crisis control team. Howbeit, the budget was but a mere shadow of the old StormWatch.

The new Weatherman was American veteran Benito Santini. Santini was extremely wary about superhumans. Thus, his core team were elite soldiers from all over the world without superhuman powers (except for one with minor super-empathic abilities).

Given the small size, lack of budget and extreme danger of the missions, Santini eventually added superhumans to his team to replace losses – but mostly as a part of the support team. Flint was the first obvious superhuman Santini recruited for his team in a front line capacity.

He had chosen her due to her idealism. N’Gengi was fighting to change the world and for the common good, and wasn’t self-centered enough to consider herself above the vulgum pecus in any way, shape or form. Flint proved a professional, efficient and disciplined member of the team, and an invaluable assets against SPOFs (Super Powered Opposing Forces).

I chase the Devil

Santini then asked Flint to take out Devil, the rogue superhuman who had murdered the entire population of Earth ENTRY. Flint accepted the extremely hazardous mission, sharing Santini’s wish to avenge the dead. She eventually managed to behead Devil, bringing his head back to the Wildstorm Earth.

This also meant it was now possible to use Project : ENTRY teleportation without fear of encountering Devil (who had almost killed Weiss during a routine teleportation). It also looked like a perfect place of exile for prisoners.

Team member Blake Coleman once told Flint something about his close friend Santini. After Coleman was KIA, Flint became very forward toward Santini, and he was soon her boyfriend. That was despite the obvious difficulties involved in having sex with a woman gifted with massive superhuman strength.

Splinter cell

In the wake of the Authority taking control of the USA, the new StormWatch splintered from the UN and went rogue. Flint followed Santini.

After a series of mostly successful ops, the new StormWatch found itself stranded on a parallel Earth where the entire population had been killed by a rogue SPB . Although they do have a plan for getting out, it involves walking from the US to Siberia. It is thus likely they will not been seen again for a long time.

Description

Flint was about 25 when she joined StormWatch, and now seems to be roughly 29.

The silvery, skimpy bathing suit and the tiara are her first costume, the “battle-thong”. And yes, it was actually a thong.

Her StormWatch Red costume was black and dark red spandex that only left her arms and head bare, with super-heavy construction boots. She sometimes wore impressive brass knuckles on both hands when expecting combat – though that didn’t seem to actually enhance her blows.

After Bendix was taken out, she switched to a white and red costume with heavy boots and combat fatigues. Then to the red and white uniform with a gray sleeveless jacket.

The black leather is her Team Achilles costume.

Personality

During her first appearances Flint was a bland super-hero. She was obviously driven and disciplined, but did not demonstrated further personality traits.

This was retconned  when the book changed writers. The retconned Flint was traumatised by her horrible past, and an introvert. She was withdrawn and did not seem to like interacting with people much. She simply did not trust humanity, and seemed to feel more empathy and concern for Earth’s flora and fauna than she did for its human inhabitants.

During operations, she was strong, silent and capable, letting Fahrenheit take charge.

Back to life

however, Victoria became able to relax with her team-mates, and was likeable when she was relaxed and not brooding. What most helped with this was the new StormWatch team developing an uncommon sense of simpatico. N’Gengi slowly realised that she really, really enjoyed her new life – living in Manhattan, having a fair amount of money and buying tonnes of clothes.

As she started to leave her old life behind her and became a far more cosmopolitan woman, she healed her previous trauma and mental scars. She became a likeable, well-adjusted, relaxed New Yorker (insert snide remark about New Yorkers here).

Flint is now an easy-going, competent professional warrior. She’s confident in her abilities and invulnerability, and can even often be quietly playful. She lives exactly the life she wanted to have – lots of action, fighting for the Cause, a solid team of skilled comrades, and access to neat clothes and excellent food.

She even get to have a sex life – although she and Santini have to be very careful. This new aspect of her life has made her quite affectionate toward her lover.

Apparently, her fast metabolism means that she needs to eat and sleep a lot, taking one or two naps a day.

Idéal

Flint’s main motivation remains a desire to change the world.She wants all human beings to benefit from human rights and all the nifty things in the UN treaties and charter. She wants to be the force behind international law, applying it in nations with an history of denying UN texts.

Victoria doesn’t fight for herself. She’s an idealist, and fights for the downtrodden and victims, especially civilians thorough Africa.

She’s sufficiently at ease with her cause to combine an affluent, sensual lifestyle with an extremely sharp focus on reducing the causes for oppression. She knows she has to act globally, not locally.

Flint is a warrior. She likes hitting things and, to a lesser extent people. She has no code against killing – as long as she knows she is hitting opposing forces, everything goes.

For Team Achilles she mostly acts as a tactical shield – taking point and drawing fire on herself so her heavily-armed team-mates can take out the opposition while the enemy directs their attacks at her.

Quotes

Santini : “You get dressed too fast to really be a woman.”
Flint: “That’s on account of me being a *super* woman.”

As Fahrenheit begins to doubt StormWatch : “Listen. I’m from Kenya. One party system. My mother lost an eye during the attempted coup in ’82  – she was a student. My grandfather lost both legs to the British in the Mau Mau uprising of 1952 . It’s not one of your good countries in a lot of way. Lots of blood in Kenya. You know what you learn in not very good countries ? The rules don’t work. Not for you. I joined StormWatch because I wanted to help show people that there are a bigger set of rules. That everybody can use. Rules for human rights. Rules for the right to go from one place to another without being killed. It’s one solution, isn’t it. And if you’re not a part of the solution, you’re a part of the problem.”

“Nyaaaaarrrrgghh—uuhhh !!” (or any other unintelligible battle cry when straining)

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: StormWatch comic books.

Helper(s): Alex Hunter, Roy Cowan, Phil Dixon.