STATUS: DECEASED
BACKGROUND:
Kate Bush had been a moderately successful singer/songwriter in her
native
England. Her songs were popular and she had a near-fanatical fan
base. In '82 she had released her fourth album, and while it had
not sold as well as she would have liked she did not necessarily feel
that
her life was going to change dramatically any time soon.
She would soon learn
differently.
Kate was born on July
30, 1958, the same time that Lionheart I was slain. Uknown to her
she had become the unwilling inheritor of his legacy, a legacy that did
not intfere with her life until '82 when she was attacked by an insane
fan who felt she had to die to become immortal. Kate easily
survived
the assault and her fan was taken away, no one believing his story that
his knife failed to pierce her flesh.
Over the next week
or so Kate experimented and found that she had a wide range of powers,
but at that point she did not know what to do with them. She was
not politically active (although she had sung about one or two causes)
and all she wanted to do was sing. The decision was taken out of
her hands, however, when terrorists captured members of the royal
family
and Kate felt she had to act. Donning a makeshift mask and
costume
she managed to stop the terrorists and save the royals. The press
dubbed her Lionheart and it stuck.
Over the next fifteen
years Lionheart protected her native soil as well as the Earth.
She
became a member of High Justice in '90 and by '95 had become their
leader.
This activity took a toll on her musical career. She had less and
less time to write and touring was out of the question. The final
blow came in '97 when she faced off against her worst enemy, The
Unicorn.
She and several of her other enemies discovered who she was and
conspired
to bring her down. They burned down her studio, destroyed her
family
home and hospitalized her father. Enraged, she confronted The
Unicorn
over London out of costume. In a battle that devastated half of
downtown
London-damaging the new London Bridge, parts of the Tower of London,
Parliment,
St. Paul's Cathedral and Tower Records in Picadilly Circus, Lionheart
killed
The Unicorn. Her other enemies were rounded up a short time later.
The trial was short,
the verdict never in doubt. Lionheart's career was so impressive,
she was so loved by the UK and the world at large, that she could
seemingly
do no wrong. She was cleared of all charges. But the world
now knew who she was.
In the years since the
incident Kate drifted in and out of retirement, even spending more than
a year in space on other adventures. After returning to Earth she
decided to focus more on her music and acting in a support role for
other heroes...until the Starscraper was destroyed and she was sadly
killed.
PERSONALITY: Kate was a nice person
with
little ego. She was an effective leader and mediator, and had
earned
the respect of the world's heroes and leaders. Over the past
several
years she had been plagued with the guilt of her role in the partial
destruction
of Great Britain and the murder of The Unicorn, an act that went
against
her deepest beliefs. She loathed violence yet was stunned at the
level she was capable of.
Kate was a vegetarian.
POWERS: Kate possessed tremendous
strength,
resilience
and endurance. She had survived all manner of trauma short of a
nuclear
warhead and could endure any environment on the planet. She could
lift hundreds
of tons and could go for days without sleeping or eating. She was
able
to fly at multi-mach speeds and could survive in space for short
periods
of time. Lionheart healed quickly from any injury she did sustain.
Lionheart also seemed
to have other powers which can only be described as "Magical".
She
was able to switch in and out of costume in a literal flash, and emit
her
"Lion's Roar" a devastating blast of sonic energy that at its widest
arc
could destroy objects (and people!) across a hundred yards.
Lionheart
was reluctant to use her roar for the sheer destructiveness of its
nature.
Lionheart also seemed
highly resistent to mental attacks. Whether this is another super
power or simply an illustration of her strong will was never determined.
APPEARANCE: Kate was an attractive woman that appeared to be in her early twenties. She stood five foot three inches tall, had an athletic build and wore her auburn hair shoulder length and full. Her skin was pale and her eyes were hazel.
As Lionheart she wore different costumes over the years. Her first was a simple gold leotard with leather boots and gauntlets with a belt and cape. Later she switched to a blue, red and white costume. In the wake of the '97 incident, she wore the costume less and less.
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