Miss Fire

Real Name:  Maryland Jason Age: 19 Power Source: magical

 Appearance: long red hair and slightly pale skin. While fighting crime she dons a black gothic dress bound at the back, heavy boots, industrial leather gloves, and a wide-brimmed hat. She has a largely unexpressive face, and those that do emerge come across as either forced, struggled, or mild but truly heartfelt.

 Superpowers: Miss Fire is a talented pyrokinetic, able to create, shape, and control fire in all its forms with artistic skill. She can only create flames within a few inches of herself, but can command them to any visible distance once they are present. Despite her control over it, Miss Fire is not herself fire-proof, though she prefers to wear fire-retardant clothes, especially her gloves. Miss Fire is noted by those who have seen her in action as having a take charge attitude and understanding of peoples’ basic workings, making her a talented leader and strategist.

 Affiliation: The Upstarts

 Biography: in her youth, Mary was a meek and easily frightened girl, but she found herself blooming in her early teens, becoming popular and/or envied. At 15, though, other girls began to develop their early powers, and Mary found herself in the same class as a telepath. She stole much of her spotlight, and while Mary kept her tight clique, she grew jealous. Later that year, she would sneak out of her home to go to her friend Marsha’s, who was dabbling early in the occult. What little she knew was just enough to conjure a devil, one that Mary very consciously gave her soul to in exchange for control over fire. Despite her selfish reasons, though, she did not abuse her powers beyond social attention. She made several additional friends through it and controlled it expertly, even deciding to “casually” fight crime (consciously acting as a hero and stopping crime, but not seeking it out as a full fledged hero). She adopted a gothic theme at 16 to match her often aloof and quietly distant personality, but found incineration difficult to apply modestly and helpfully. She became roughly known as being cold and harsh in general, and it was a battle with the Jet Pack gang that started an apartment fire. Happenstance landed all future members of the Upstarts at the scene. Acting at once, the heroes tackled the problem themselves before Mj took charge, dispatching rapid orders, later amazed at herself for her natural leadership and self-imposed authority. The gang stuck like glue, with MJ as a distant but still genuinely concerned big-sister figure to the team. She is very sensitive about being approached directly by others, and hides behind her layers of insults and gruffness to keep only true friends around and shallow tagalongs at bay.