APPROVED: BACKGROUND_1 First Sparks
Beatriz da Costa grew up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a wild girl in one of the wildest towns there is. She spent her childhood running barefoot in the streets, laughing and playing games, driving her protective mother crazy. She only made it worse as a teenager, spending most of her time hanging around the beach, often skipping school, toying with boys and partying. She didn't think much about a career or a future, until the day a talent scout spotted her laying out on the beach and offered her the chance to do some modelling. Sure, some of it was pretty scandalous, at first, but Beatriz' beauty and her self-determination pushed her beyond the usual exploited girl stereotypes. She started making actual money and getting real shows. She trained as a dancer and translated her modelling contacts into getting her work at stage shows, performing as an exotic dancer, twirling flaming batons, swallowing swords, anything to get attention and make money, two of her favorite things. By age 19, she was getting plenty of both.
APPROVED: BACKGROUND_2 Stoking the Flame
Getting Beatriz's first taste of intrigue came while working a club, where she found herself caught up in a sting operation to catch a drug smuggler. To the surprise of the agents, who'd meant only to use her as seductive bait, she was a natural agent, quick-witted, athletic and, if it came down to it, ruthless. Beatriz found herself recruited into Brazil's secret police, undergoing training on her off-days while maintaining her cover as a dancer and model. She was trained in martial arts, weapons and spycraft. To her, it was like living a movie - she even got a thrill from the danger, dodging gunfire, jumping out of moving cars. Plus, she actually liked doing good. She stopped bombers and drug dealers, beat up pimps and rapists, and actually managed to save people's lives. While others might only know her as the party girl, Beatriz knew that, in truth, she was something far more and she was proud of herself.
APPROVED: BACKGROUND_3 Fire
While on a mission into the Amazon jungle, tracking a polluter, Beatriz founds herself wounded and stumbling into a strange, mystic grotto, one she was never able to trace and find again. She emerged with deep green hair and an ability to transform herself into living flame of the same emerald hue. Dubbing herself Fire for her newfound abilities, she easily defeated the criminals who'd tried to kill her. She found herself a young superheroine, fighting crime and even becoming something of a celebrity. No longer useful as an undercover operative, the secret police still wanted to use her - as a guinea pig and as a weapon of mass destruction for the government. Deciding that it wasn't worth the risk of being used, Beatriz decided to relocate to the United States. Residing now in New York City, she's pursuing her modelling career again, utterly open about her identity and taking to the skies as Fire, exotic superheroine and crimebuster.
APPROVED: PSY1 Confident
Beatriz oozes self-confidence, always has even when she was a kid. She's just one of those people who feels comfortable in their own skin. She's genuinely shameless and isn't one to shy away from conflict or controversy. She doesn't usually take it to the point of arrogance, she just believes strongly in herself and her own capabilities - as she's quick to point out, if she doesn't, who will?
APPROVED: PSY2 Sensual
Not merely in the commonly used sexual sense, but in all things. Beatriz is something of a hedonist, enjoying wine, dancing, good food, everything the world has to offer. She lives life to the fullest and, despite her Catholic upbringing, isn't particularly good at denying herself or resisting temptation. She likes to have fun and isn't shy about it.
APPROVED: PSY3 Self-Absorbed
While she believes in doing good and tries to help people, Beatriz does look out for herself and her own interests. She sees nothing wrong with doing so. She can't do any good if she's out on the street. She can sometimes be blind to her own selfishness, though, and will think of her own feelings before those of other people. She puts herself on the line physically for others all the time, though, and this isn't meant to convey any form of cowardice or shirking of duty on her part. She's just a bit vain and me-oriented by nature.
APPROVED: PSY4 Fiery
Beatriz can sometimes have what they call the Latin temperament. Put simply, she's a deeply passionate person - she tends to feel things in extremes. When she's happy, she's utterly happy. When she's angry, she's enraged. When she's sad, she's despondent and inconsolable. She might seem a bit of a drama queen to some, but saying that in her presence probably isn't good for your health.
APPROVED: PSY5 Loyal
Beatriz hasn't had many close friends in her life. Plenty of acquaintances and hangers-on, but few real boon companions. When she does bond with someone, she does so passionately and intensely. She's exceedingly loyal and very protective of those she considers friends, often coming to their defense. She's often drawn to shy or gentle people, contrasted to her own nature, both because she wants to help them come out of their shell and because she's seen too many such people get stepped on by jerks.
APPROVED: PSY6 Hidden Depths
Many people (even her own mother) have often blown Beatriz off as shallow, a party girl who only cares about clothes, money and good times. She does care about those things, a lot, but she's far more complex than people give her credit. She has thoughts about politics, social issues, art and philosophy. She's a lapsed Catholic who's done a fair bit of spiritual seeking. Very few people manage to get close enough to see below the surface, though.
APPROVED: PSY7 Motivation
Beatriz is motivated by simple things like money, fun, attention. She really likes the attention a lot! But she also wants to be respected and she wants to do something to make the world a better place.
APPROVED: PSY8 Goals
Become a world-famous superhero and supermodel (already pretty close to those), starting her own fashion line, being able to retire rich and wealthy. Maybe find love someday, even if she's not sure she believes in it at the moment.
APPROVED: POW1 Pyroplasmic Form
Beatriz possesses the ability to turn her body either partially or entirely into a form of plasma energy that closely resembles flame, burning at high temperatures and providing her with a variety of abilities. Fully transformed, she's a being of living plasma, existing somewhere between gas and solid. While she can't pass through solid objects (except through melting), solid objects can pass through her (bullets, thrown bricks, semi trucks) without doing any damage more than perhaps briefly dispersing her energy form. She can transform her entire body, becoming a living torch, or just partially (usually her hair, hands and eyes, when she wants to remain otherwise physical), but her unphased parts remain human and vulnerable if she only goes partial. Her fully transformed body can easily melt its way through solid steel in just a few seconds or cause incredible physical burns with a touch. Unlike true fire, her pyroplasmic form does not require oxygen and can burn even in the vacuum of outer space (and, while she's in her form, Beatriz does not need to breathe). She can maintain her form for up to two hours before taking a break and returning to her human form (usually for around half an hour, a 4:1 ratio).
APPROVED: POW2 Plasma Blasts
Fire can projects blasts of green flame energy, gouts of superheated power that can melt steel in seconds, sear wood and paper to ash. At the highest levels of her power, her temperature comes close to that of the sun itself - the higher temperatures she use, the more of her overall energy reserve is used and the close she'll come to flaming out. She can also trail and control the fire so that it's not just a direct blast, but can loop, form shapes or go around corners or obstacles, essentially obeying her will.
APPROVED: POW3 Flight
Beatriz can project a gout of green flame behind her like a rocket, enabling her to fly. Her maximum speed is around a few hundred miles per hour, short of the speed of sound, but still faster than most non-jet vehicles. She's extremely practiced with this power, having a high level of maneuverability and reaction speed. When she flies, she leaves a trail of green flame in her wake that will dissipate in about a minute.
APPROVED: ADV1 Contacts
As a former agent of the Brazilian secret police, Beatriz has developed contacts throughout the intelligence community, including SHIELD. While she's no longer an active agent, she can often call on such contacts for information or even back-up if she's in a tight spot. Of course, they can call on the same from her, on occasion. That's what friends are for.
APPROVED: ADV2 Personal Wealth
As a model in high demand, Beatriz has gained a notable, although not overwhelming, amount of personal wealth. Her current net worth hovers at around 1 million dollars, between modelling gigs, products endorsements and savings from her various efforts over the years.
APPROVED: ADV3 Beauty
Put simply, Beatriz da Costa is gorgeous, the literal kind of face you see on magazine covers. Attractive people have power, it's a simple fact of life. She has the kind of beauty that can intimidate and enrapture and has no compunctions about using it to her advantage.
APPROVED: ADV4 Famous
Beatriz has become a very well known international model over the last few years, some would even say a supermodel. That puts her name and picture in the papers often enough. With her distinct look and hair, she's not exactly going to blend in with most people - but being recognized has its advantages. She can get the attention of powerful people, jump ahead at restaurants and generally get the privileges that come with being wealthy, famous and beautiful. It isn't bad, by any means.
APPROVED: SKILL1 Martial Arts
As part of her secret police training, Beatriz was taught the arts of self-defense, notably karate and Brazilian jiu-jitzu. She's adept at both striking and grappling and can handle herself effectively even without using her powers. While not a world class hand-to-hand fighter, she's definitely not someone to mess with.
APPROVED: SKILL2 Marksmanship
Beatriz' secret police training included firearms and marskmanship. She's mostly adept with pistols and can shoot with accuracy at up to a hundred yard range. She knows the basics of firearm upkeep and would be equivalent with an active FBI field agent in skill.
APPROVED: SKILL3 Undercover
Beatriz worked for the secret police primarily in the capacity of an undercover operative. She knows how to infiltrate, seduce, spy and generally manipulate circumstances to find out information she needs and to earn the trust of others. She's also skilled at stealth skills like safecracking, lockpicking, basic cat-burglary and even small levels of computer security and hacking. Basically, she's a fairly skilled spy.
APPROVED: SKILL4 Dancing
Beatriz started dancing as a young woman, at first just among friends on the beaches of Rio, and then in clubs, both for fun and eventually professionally. She knows a wide variety of dance styles, although go-go and exotic dancing is obviously in her repertoire, she's also got training in ballet and contemporary styles and is good enough to be a legitimate dancer.
APPROVED: SKILL5 Fashion
Beatriz has been a model since her teen years and has been increasingly in demand since her move to America, thanks to her exotic look, with her golden skin and bright green hair. In addition to understanding the modelling industry, it's given her increasing knowledge of the fashion industry - she's considering launching her own fashion line eventually, and has begun to work on design in her spare time. In the meantime, she's always up on the latest fashions and trends and is deeply familiar with the fashion world, both corporate and artistic.
APPROVED: FLAW1 Energy Depletion
Fire has a limited amount of energy to use and generate. While she is usually well-powered enough for the average fight, she does have her limits. The higher the temperatures she produces and the longer she has to use her powers with things like blasts, flight or just producing great heat, the faster she'll become depleted. If she works herself to just get close to running out and stop, she'll need to rest for at least a half an hour before she can re-energize (and that period has to be spent entirely resting, and some food wouldn't hurt). Even then, she'd probably need a full night's sleep to get back to full power. If she goes all the way to her limit without turning her power off consciously, she will pass out and be left unconscious and vulnerable.
APPROVED: FLAW2 Enemies
She crossed her share of people with the Brazilian secret police, most notably members of powerful drug cartels, and some of them would still like to put some bullets through the beautiful woman who cost them so much. She has to watch her back.
APPROVED: FLAW3 Collateral Damage
Fire's powers are such that they can easily affect the world around her without her even noticing. She could damage walls or ceilings, accidentally burn people nearby or use too much heat and just blast all the way through something without intent.
APPROVED: FLAW4 Obviously Different
A side effect of the process which gave her power is that all of Beatriz' hair is a bright, almost neon shade of green. Her hair resists any form of dye or attempt to recolor, simply shrugging it off. It makes the undercover work that was once her bread and butter a lot more difficult - plus she just tends to stick out in a crowd.
APPROVED: FLAW5 Cold
Her powers are simply harder to use in colder temperatures - it takes more effort, she burns out her energy faster. If anyone has cold or ice based powers, they can use them against her and, while she can counteract them at first, the very act of doing so will rapidly start to tap her reserves. Her fire -does-, however, resist water, unlike regular flame, and, while it may douse her for a second, she would merely quickly reblast to dry out.
APPROVED: FLAW6 TMZ
Paparazzi, celebrity stalkers, gossip bloggers, general hangers-on - Beatriz is prone to all of these when she's out in public, especially in places like New York City, where the fashion industry is so prominent. Not only does it make it hard not to be noticed, with cameras trailing after you, but they can get in the way of superheroic action, providing just more civilians she has to protect or stumbling themselves into danger trying to get a good shot for the next issue of InTouch.
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