Gridlock

Real Name: Carmen Grace Stryder
Hero Name: Gridlock
Titles: Miss Stryder, CEO, Boss Lady
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Age: 27
Gender: Female
Race: Meta-Human
Hair: Ink Black
Eyes: Cyan
Height: 6'4
Weight: 172 lbs
Blood type: B -


Carmen Stryder is a tall muscular woman with dark skin and darker hair tired into a messy bun with two strands of hair flowing down past her shoulders. She has sharp cyan-painted nails and shining cyan eyes with thin angular eyebrows that mold her face into a perpetual expression of irritation. Stryder usually boasts a standard white dress shirt with black slacks and dark iron high heels built for fashion and functionality. She also wears a black tie with golden gears at the tip.





Gridlock is a petty, neurotic, self-important person who thinks herself stronger, better, and smarter than everyone around her whether it is true or not. She walks around with a larger-than-life ego that's so easily shattered by a simple jab or comment. She hasn't a respectful bone in her body yet even still she constantly pushes those around her to be better simply because, despite her jagged exterior, Carmen truly believes in people's ability to change and improve themselves. Carmen wants people to do better and act better and all her needling and berating is an extension of that.

No matter how annoyed she acts (and often is) Stryder truly enjoys the time she spends with people but has no way of expressing it in a way that isn't blocked by her perfectionism or isn't overshadowed by her ruthless aggression and nitpicking. Carmen wants to do good for others but not in the traditional way that makes their lives better or happier but in a more permanent way that allows people to fix their own lives and gives them the tools to improve themselves. She's a firm believer in giving a man the power to fish rather than fishing for him.


Carmen Stryder was born as the heir to the genetics and bio-research company "Stryve" the only child to her father Erick and her mother Kathryne who died during child-birth. Her childhood was anything but normal as she spent more time in the office with her father than she did at home or with other kids her father hired a tutor to educate his daughter and a martial artist to teach her self-defense techniques at a young age. After losing his wife, Erick refused to lose his daughter and went to extremes to ensure her safety. He even went as far as to hire a contingent of enhanced individuals to guard the young Stryder at all times. Carmen had no relationship with her father that went beyond preparing her for her inexorable role as CEO of the company and by her teenage years, Erick had essentially chained himself to his lab and didn't even leave for meals.

Life was miserable but it was quiet until investors in the company began demanding the results they were promised and Erick was at a loss at what to produce. The loss of his wife and his strained relationship with his now-adult daughter had affected the two of them more than either of them could know and it was bleeding into Erick's work halting his progress. All this came to a climax when Carmen was attacked by a Supervillain on a bus while her contingent was out of range and the woman was almost killed.

Not wanting to lose the remainder of his family and needing to please the investors before the company went under, Erick resolved that the only way to solve both problems was to enhance his daughter and make sure she could defend herself instead of relying on others. Carmen begged her father to reconsider but he had none of it and forced her to get the enhancements as they were "for her protection." The experiments and eventual mutation were incredibly distressing but by the end of it, Carmen had incredible speed, strength, durability, and reflexes that surpassed even the average superhuman. The mutations also imbued her with an energy-based ability that allowed her to separate matter into blocks on a grid.

Project: Fraternal Love was a complete success and saved the company from destruction but in the process tore apart the waning relationship Erick had with Carmen who claimed she'd never forgive him for what he had done. Later that night, Erick killed himself in his office leaving Carmen a shattered soul as the head of Stryve and the only heir to the family name. Soon after stabilizing the company, Carmen became a hero more out of obligation than an actual desire to do good. She felt that since she was a meta she may as well use her powers to bring good to the world even though she felt neutral from a moral standpoint.

Besides, staying out of harm's way was what her father wanted, so being a hero to spite him was enough to get Stryder on board.


Gridlock
Gridlock allows Carmen to place a Grid on an object and disassemble, reassemble or combine objects as needed. Objects, when disassembled, will function as though they were whole meaning a sink will continue to run when disassembled and a heart will continue to beat when removed from its torso. Gridlock cannot affect objects greater than 30ft in volume and once the ability is deactivated any dismantled objects will immediately reform. Gridlock cannot remain active for more than 1 hour but will not deactivate should something happen to Carmen.

Note: Organic Matter will automatically reassemble after five minutes as opposed to the standard hour time limit.

Disassembly
Gridlock allows the user to dismantle any object under 30ft in volume into a mass of cubes made of said matter. While dismantled, objects will continue to function as normal but any cube that is destroyed will also damage the object when it is reformed. This also applies to organic matter. Disassembly is initiated through either direct contact which allows for precision disassembly such as only removing one or two blocks or through a small laser that fires from any finger of Carmen's choosing and will disassemble an object in its entirety. This ranged version however only applies to objects under 10ft in volume.

Reassembly
When Gridlock's time limit has expired or Carmen simply deactivates her ability any dismantled objects will pieces themselves back together very quickly and return to the state they were in before being disassembled. This can be used for tracking Carmen to disassemble a piece of someone's clothing or the like and then follow the piece as it reassembles. Carmen can also assemble things using different materials which allows her to close wounds temporarily, and create new objects through combination. This form of reassembly can only last for fifteen minutes as opposed to the standard one-hour time limit.

Self-Disassembly
Stryder can disassemble parts of herself at will without having to touch that body part, however, this ability is extremely short-lived as she can only maintain this separation for a max of 30 seconds before she automatically reforms.

Superhuman Strength
Carmen has far more strength than any human and can lift a semi-truck with some strain and hold back a freight train with extraordinary difficulty.

Superhuman Speed
Carmen is much faster than any human and can charge down multiple city blocks in under thirty seconds and leap across rooftops with no effort.

Superhuman Durability/Endurance
Stryder can take what she dishes out and can survive getting hit by a speeding truck with only a few minor injuries.

Superhuman Reflexes/Perception
Carmen can react to things much faster than people and some animals and this helps augment her speed, which she can use more effectively, and her ability to dodge attacks and counter them.

Superhuman Eyesight
When focusing, Carmen can see a fly land on a slice of bread from 300ft away.

Superhuman Regeneration
Injuries that would take an average person a week to recover from heals on Stryder in a half-hour.

Martial Training
Carmen has been trained in various combat forms which gives her an edge against untrained opponents and allows her to fight those with more strength or experience than herself. Her battle IQ is also very high and this allows Stryder to rapidly adapt to her enemies.

Temperature Resistance
Because of her skin's durability, Stryder has resistance to extreme temperatures such as fire and frigid ice.


Neurotic
Carmen will not settle for anything below absolute perfection, her clothes have to be perfect, her stance perfect, her sentence structure perfect, her cup of morning joe perfect and this is doubly true for her employees and her allies who she'll drive and berate almost as hard as herself. This can push people away, upset her enough to where her decision-making falls off, and overall cause friction within herself and those she surrounds herself with. It's debatable if she flogs herself in private or not.

Paranoid
Having your only parental figure turns you into a crime against nature and spending your life surrounded by people subservient to your riches rather than you do a lot to a person's self-confidence and ability to trust others. Stryder is constantly suspicious of those around her and it makes it hard to work with her.

Asshole
There's no way around it, Carmen Stryder is an asshole. She yells at people, barks orders at them, looks down on them, and overall is just a very condescending and unpleasant person. She may have a shred of pure unfiltered goodness in her somewhere but it's hard to look past the ocean of assholery.

Energy
Gridlock will not work on energy or energy-based attacks.

Gas
Gridlock also cannot disassemble or reassemble gasses.

Liquids
Liquids, likewise are immune to Gridlock.

Ten's the Magic Number
Gridlock can only affect ten things at a time, meaning one must be released to take on another.

Poison
Because of her physical enhancements, Stryder's blood runs faster through her body meaning poison and other ailments will take effect faster.

History
Stryder despises talking about her past and will get extremely defensive if it is brought up. If someone were to find out about her past it would be exceptionally easy to throw her off by using it against her and this is not that hard as the news of her experimentation was posted all over the news and the company's files and websites.

Speedsters
Since Gridlock is an ability that either must touch the enemy or make contact through a relatively slow projectile, anyone fast enough to outmaneuver Stryder has the advantage.

Bodily Limits
While her durability isn't lacking, because of the human body's inherent design she cannot utilize her full strength without sacrificing her wellbeing. If she ever needed to Stryder could lift a large building off herself but she'd surely break her arms or back in the process.

Prideful
Anything or anyone that wounds Carmen's ego infuriates her causing the woman to shunt logic and reason to the side if but momentarily. For all her insults and grand-standing, Stryder can't stand having her faults pointed out to her in any way shape, or form.

Base Sensory Buff
All of Stryder's base five senses have been buffed which makes her incredibly susceptible to attacks to her hearing, sight, smelling touch, and God-forbid someone targets her sense of taste.

Range
Stryder is primarily a close-ranged fighter so anyone that can keep her at a range has her at a disadvantage,


1x Utility Belt
Worn into battle, Stryder uses this belt to hold an array of items at once.

1x Standard Combat Pistol
A standard combat pistol with a silencer on the end for infiltration. Carried in a holster on her hip. Carries six bullets at a time and has modified sights and a hair-trigger.

1x Exquisite Jade Dagger
A finely crafted green dagger that's both extremely sharp and luminescent. It hands in the wall of Stryder's office but she occasionally brings it into battle should she feel the need.

6x Extra Magazines
Carried in the inner pockets of her dress coat, Carmen brings along 6 extra magazines should she need to reload accounting for 36 bullet rounds total.

1x Grappling Hook
Carried on her utility belt, Stryder can use this hook to scale walls, buildings, and other tall structures.

3x GPS Trackers
Carmen carries around three small discs that can magnetically clamp to metal or easily hide on someone's back or in their pockets and act as locators which she can use to track the movements of a target. They can be jammed or shorted out by EMPs and other methods of tampering, however.


Not unless you count her employees lol

Pefectionist
Carmen is constantly fiddling with her outfit because there's always something off about it and she's never able to stop tidying her hair because she simply can't get it as neat as she would like.

Psychics
Carmen gets noticeably uncomfortable around mind-readers, psychics, and empaths because she doesn't want people to know know what she is thinking or feeling.

Soap in the Mouth
Stryder doesn't tolerate cursing and will rag on anyone who does so around her.

Stupid Name
Carmen hates her hero name: Gridlock because she thinks it's a stupid name for herself and her ability and it was only picked because people kept pressuring her to come up with an alias even though she doesn't wear a mask. If someone uses her hero name she'll ask them to call her by her real name and get annoyed if they choose not to do so.


Carmen could feel herself growing antsier by the second as bullets of rain continuously whipped across her exposed face, her drenched body and clothing having an increasingly hard time keeping a hold on the roof of the speeding truck.

"These boys must be from New York, they haven't looked up even once. Not that many people do while driving but it's still exceptionally unobservant."

Hanging precariously from the back of the truck with her toe strength alone keeping her from face planting into the street, Stryder confirmed her suspicion with one look at the license plate. Swinging back onto the roof, Carmen saw a warehouse with golden light flooding the windows off in a lot hidden on the coastline just off the beach. It now clicked in her head that they had been traveling on some backwater road and that this warehouse was likely abandoned and repurposed for whatever nefarious dealings these people had in mind. She hadn't seen another car for over an hour and that should have told her enough but it was late at night so she wouldn't hang herself over this one. As the vehicle turned left into the compound Stryder laid flat against the roof and took note of anything happening in the yard...nothing.

"Perhaps they're all inside working on something...? Still seems like a bad idea not to leave any guards posted. I hope this organization turns out to be a small, amateurish one or I am going to be very upset."

The truck came to a stop and two well-armed fellows slipped out of the driver and passenger seat their weapons primed.

"Assault rifles? Whoever these people are they are well-armed, but I can't say the same for their training I mean he's holding the rifle with one hand-!" Carmen's hand went over her mouth, she almost let her voice get too loud and alert the gunmen. Still oblivious as ever the pair raised the truck's backdoor and stepped inside...sitting their rifles on the ground...

"WHAT is the point of BRINGING THE RIFLES if they are just going to PUT THEM DOWN!?!" She exclaimed but not as loud as she desperately wanted to.

Grabbing the roof, Carmen swung into the cargo hold slamming her iron boots into the face of the goons as she landed into a squat with their broken noses as her support. Standing up Carmen ensured the two were incapacitated before walking over the rows of crates lining the walls and sliding the lid off one of them. Guns and lots of them.

"Well that would explain what two blokes from the big apple are doing in the city of angels...but why bring the weapons from so far a distance? It would be easier AND involve much less risk to just have them imported here, I mean it's THE WEST COAST-!" Stryder took a calming breath, stealth missions are so much harder when the people she's up against are so rage-inducing. Slipping into the driver's back pocket, Stryder slipped his phone into her pocket so she could check it for evidence later. She didn't like thinking she could do a better job than the police but...she thinks she could do a better job than the police. Leaving the truck the woman made her way over to the warehouse as stealthily as possible and climbed onto the roof of the building using an old fire escape.

Putting her ear to the metal roof, Carmen waited until she was over a spot where she could hear voices and finally arrived over what sounded like a...dear God...enhanced hearing has got to be in the running for her LEAST favorite ability. A touch of her palm and a blue shining grid spread out across that portion of the roof splitting the metal into tiny metal boxes that fell in on the...she knew it was a bathroom! Stryder dashed over to a man still washing his hands and slammed his face into the mirror shattering it. She didn't stop, she pressed on into the hallway outside and saw a room at the end of the long corridor...along with two guards. Carmen charged down the hallway like a steaming bull as the two raised their weapons and fired.

The world slowed down while she sped up as four blazing objects came barreling toward her a plume of spoke and ash pushing them forward. Stryder felt herself push off the ground and to the right side wall her foot pushing her forward and up over the volley of bullets. The second her feet touched the ground again two more shots rang out and she curled up her leg allowing her to leap forward and turn her body through the air.  She coiled past the two bullets and now planted her hands on the ground her two targets lined up like bowling pins. She felt her arms push off the steel ground and launch her forward as she arched her back and flipped around grabbing both goons by the face as her back pressed against the door.

The world sped back up and Stryder rammed both men into the wall their brains rattling in their skulls. She often wondered how she didn't simply kill most of the people she encountered but she mostly chalked it up to some sort of conscience or restraint she put on herself or whatever self-righteous nonesense she could think of. The door fell to pieces with a touch of her hand and inside was a massive server room glowing and beeping with all sorts of illicit data.

"Is this what they were protecting? Data? On what? Their activites? Their Secrets? Best way to discern the truth is to just take some of this with me."

Flying from out of her wrist Stryder inserted a small flashdrive into the nearest data server and quickly began stealing all its precious data.

"I told these guys to start fixing the damned holes in the roof..." A lazy voice emerged from the darkness before audibly cocking a pistol.

"Because now look what the rain dragged in! A woman wth the muscle mass of a bear comes in here stealin' our data...things are NEVER boring around here! Now turn around."

Stryder smiled sinisterly and slowly raised her hands. If she had a nickel, no a PENNY for everytime someone put a gun to her head and thought they gained the upperhand she wouldn't even NEED her company to stay afloat. In a flash, Stryder's torso went to the floor her arms catching her fall as her leg raised up and kicked the gun from the man's hand and into the ceiling. Her arms still holding her up began walking her around as Stryder broke into a handstand and turned her back adjacent to the man's right side. Her right arm came off the ground and her legs swung around in an arc into the man's spine that sent him sprawling against the wall by the spinning double kick.

A green light flashed on her hardrive as the data download finished and voices with heavy footfalls could be heard coming down the hall. As tempting as it was to see just how many people were in this shamble, it was probably better if she left for now and came back when she had more intel. Besides, if she DID run down this whole operation she'd have to admit to breaking and entering and she's got better things to do than spend the night in the county jail.

A single punch shattered the already broken window and with a leap, Gridlock had faded into the night the sound of her steps shrouded by the pouring rain.