Keira Ashmore

"The mark of a good con is trust and honesty. If you can fake those, you're all set"

A young woman who has establish a career through the use of cloaking and the capability to hack any computer technology. She has dabbled in espionage and become an unknown mistress of stealth, adhering to a self-proclaimed ideology of being the best thief around, yet maintaining almost certainly to not become infamous. Her activities are virtually unheard of, masquerading herself a typical college girl who has merely been an unfortunate victim of circumstance.

Biography
"Oh god... Blair is going to kill me! Okay, I don't know what happened but we're taking it to our graves!""

Keira Ashmore was born in Detroit, Michigan, although she was never truly aware of this. Throughout her life she was moved around with such frequency that she hadn’t a clue her place of birth and pondered if in fact she was born out of country. Her father, James, was a con artist, who would use her in his various schemes. A common angle would be insurance fraud where Keira was told to feign injury by deceiving people into thinking they hit her while she rode her bike.

This was one of many, but a means to their survival. Her mother had walked away for reasons Keira was never knew, yet strangely enough her father spoke nothing but praise toward the woman and that she couldn’t handle everything. Although they were hardly well off, she relished the time with her father, who doted on her as his precious treasure. Unfortunately, when James attempted a risky game that would have netted a sizable profit, he was caught and subsequently imprisoned.

Upon the incarceration of her father, Keira was sent to live with her mother. It would grow to be evident the two would be akin to oil and water almost instantaneously. Her mother had little experience dealing with a recently turned teenager while Keira was exhibiting a rebellious phase, hurt she could no longer see her father and angered by having to live with a woman she felt abandoned them. Her penchant to steal small objects continued to develop, devoid of any watchful eye. It her mind she was following her father’s advice that whatever was not nailed down could be worth taking, and if it posed a challenge, that made it more enticing.

The relationship between the two would deteriorate rapidly, Keira’s habit growing increasingly more regular while gravitating to the wrong group of people as she entered school. Within a short time thereafter, she was shipped off to live with the grandmother in West Virginia when her mother could no longer handle it.

While relatively strict, her grandmother provided her with the stability that had been absent through her life. The patience and support had long become something the young girl craved, which was lacking even from her father, who took more interest in what cons she could help him run. If there were however, one aspect her and her grandmother held conflict on, such would be religion. The latter was a devoted Christian, whereas Keira had been raised an atheist, her father claiming the only deity he’d throw his lot in with would be lady luck. It was the source of minor arguments but begrudgingly Keira obligated to her grandmother’s request to attend church every occasionally. This is where she would meet Blair Bennett, a young blonde the same age.

The two became immediate friends, and eventual close as Keira would be going to the same school. Oddly enough, this was a mixed blessing for Keira, who while cherishing having a few friends, did not know how to function around people who either did not want something more from her or were a target. It was foreign for someone who had been accustomed to being a con artist since childhood. This led to her old habit resurfacing, where she started to steal mundane objects just to maintain a sense of running the game. Yet, in the case of Blair she felt unusually guilty, and frequently returned whatever was taken, if only to repeat the cycle.

High school in West Virginia certainly differed from the entertainment capital. She had participated in a wide variety of extracurricular activities, her favorite being gymnastics and volleyball. Her studies were admittedly less a focal point but she had taken a partial interest in forensic work, computers and decided to make that her major going forward if she could not obtain a scholarship. This would end up being the case following graduation, although her grandmother would instead pay for the tuition.

All seemed to be well, she was heading back to New York but on different circumstances now and accompanied by Blair. It was not long after her father would enter into the picture once again. With her return to New York, he decided to attempt to rekindle their relationship, much to Keira’s delight. His involvement would lead her to emulate his cons, distancing herself from everyone, even her friend.

Keira had been showering when the first instance of the Shift occurred. The girl had caught a fleeting glimpse of light when she glanced outside the bathroom window. Something about it affixed her attention, until a sudden of aura mingled through her body, causing her to quiver, only to then accelerate to an enormous migraine. She screamed from the pain, collapsing to the floor, eventually losing consciousness. Several hours would pass before she awoke and what she was presented with terrified her. Pulling herself up to her feet, Keira stood across from the mirror yet… nothing was shown. Panic stricken, she hastily grabbed her arms to make certain she was not a ghost. Almost instantly after, she ran a finger over her teeth. Far too many horror films have given her an unnerving imagination. Neither seemed to be the case, and with a deep breath her body was slowly coming into view, faint as it was.

As it turned out, Keira had acquired the ability to cloak herself completely from sight; such was one of the three she would come to possess. Her most potent being discovered when she began fidgeting with her laptop. Almost immediately she was absorbing information in seconds, in fact, the computer itself was operating by mere thought. She could not maintain the connection for long, at least not as of the moment. Her brain simply could not process so much Intel at such a speed.

Months would pass onward, leaving Keira to adapt to the changes the world had undergone in such a short period. She held mended previous relationships to the best of ability, most notably with Blair Bennett, who she sought to console when she discovered her brother died. Despite the reconciliation, she would not relay anything about her powers. It seemed hardly the time nor was her friend particularly keen of these things to begin with. It did not help matters Keira had begun utilizes these newly acquired talents to perform far greater acts of thievery. She could pass through walls; fade from sight, who could possibly stop her?

She would eventually adopt a trademark phrase, “I’m the best thief, not the most famous” when met another individual with similar abilities to her own. He would take her as a protégé, teaching her not only how to defend herself but how to handle firearms. As she adapted to better use of stealth and the world around her, the young blonde chose to make a profession from what had once been a poor habit. True to her claim, she was virtually unknown unless you had a use for her, even then, those she employed her never saw her face, and who ever would expect her even if they were told?

Personality
Keira is a relatively excitable young woman, warm, compassionate and with an adventurous side, she has no qualms demonstrating whenever the opportunity comes around. She possesses a strange sense of optimism, always quick to motivate whoever happens to be in her company. Such qualities have given a fair amount of charisma, although she has never been fond of the thought towards popularity. She garnered much attention due to her skills in sports yet did not adopt the interests of her friend until much later. She was not the fighting sort and somewhat apprehensive of firearms despite knowing more about them than most would presume.

One odd tendency she has is to follow into the interests of others, if only to determine why it is they fancy whatever happens to be their hobby. Her curiosity is limitless and often dangerous when she cannot keep it under control. Perhaps her most noteworthy attribute is her nonchalant disposition. She is quite confident of her own abilities and not easily pressured, often one to resort to humorous retorts if people seem to believe the worst. She usually keeps her sarcasm on a gentler side than most, seeking only to amuse, not badger.

Having been involved in her father’s cons for most of her early life, Keira has developed difficulty in dissociating that not everyone wants something from her nor is there a need to deceive them. Such would be what motivates her compulsive kleptomania, stealing even mundane object purely to relax herself and maintain the illusion of deception being a necessity. This is compiled by trust issues derived from the departure of her parents. Regrettably, she the telltale example of a daddy’s girl and adores his attention, despite knowing his involvement has caused her much grief over the years.

Since the emergence of the shift, Keira has lived something of a double life, remaining primarily secretive of her work. She demonstrates a significantly alternative persona, conveying herself serious and capable, neither of which she has any difficult supporting. Few know who she is just that somehow she is available when the need arises. She adopts a limited causalities policy, not having a taste for violence, and is surprisingly efficient at this undertaking. Amusingly, she is quick to retreat, better to life the coward than die a hero.

Powers & Abilities
While not physically imposing by any stretch, Keira has demonstrated martial prowess, having been taught hand-to-hand combat primarily pertaining to rendering a person unconscious within the quickest amount of time. She can nevertheless hold her own in a fight, being exceptionally lithe and agile, enough she can hold her leg completely vertical. With having once aspired to be a professional athlete in her teens, she able to refrain from fatigue for a longer duration than most. Unfortunately, she is not the durable sort.

Having received extensive training in the recent year from her mentor, she has developed and honed what had once been only a fleeting interest. Not only has Keira adapted strongly to all forms of firearms however has become a surprisingly good shot. Her primary guns of choice are pistols for their ease of use and quick execution, yet uses a machine gun on a few missions where she expects opposition.

Cloak and Phasing
Keira is able to render herself invisible through simple thought. The ability functions by emitting a spark-esque pulse upon her skin initially subjecting her appearance to an obscure blur, prior to making her disappear from sight. The process happens within an instant but if interrupted by way of distraction, it will cancel leaving her only partially transparent. If necessary, she can keep her cloak up for similar minutes, exceeding an hour in very rare circumstances but the strain of pushing herself to that degree is extensive. For this reason, her cloak is usually applied in quick succession in lieu of a constant, as the recovery time is substantially less.

A secondary ability derived from her cloaking enables Keira to pass through solid objects such as walls, although only when having cloaked completely. This requires notably greater concentration and is liable to disperse her invisibility. Iin some instances not everything with pass through should overextend her limits, leading to some… uncomfortable scenarios to say the least. Either ability will expand to whatever comes in contact with Keira’s skin, including another person, albeit the fatigue mounts rapidly the more enveloped by her powers, resulting in her unable to reactivate the cloak for a longer duration than normal.

Human A. I.
Perhaps the most complex of the abilities in her arsenal, Keira’s brain has taken to functioning at a partial equivalent to an artificial intelligence, capable of processing information at an alarming rate and subsequently utilizing a form of telepathy to issue commands devoid of having to use a keyboard. Upon contact with any computer-based structure, she essentially overrides the basic mechanical components of the machine, melding her mind with the technology. In this matter, she can glimpse through software within moments, bypass firewalls and other defenses commonly implemented for protection. If she chosen she can disable them outright. Likewise, she can reprogram computer-operated machinery to fight on her behalf or perform any task she so desires so long as it is not outside the existing parameters of the device.

Her ability do not stem beyond computer technology, she cannot, for instance, overtake household appliances, nor have a vehicle drive itself. The sole exception being if the object runs via software programming, then she may attempt to meld her mind with it. Being that she is still technically human in every sense of the word. Frequent use beyond high risk hacking will cause significant migraines forcing her to detach herself from the machine and can leave her initially empty depending how much information her brain absorbed. While usually able to defuse any potential threat long before it becomes dangerous, if a virus does manage to steep into her mind she go into convulsions, experiencing unquestionable agony, almost as if her head is splitting. The result leaves her unconscious for days, if not weeks. It is unlikely but a risk nonetheless.