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Katie Benson: Pt. 1

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Name: Katie Benson

Nickname(s): The Hardest Woman to Kill; the Enigma of Pain; the Scarred

Age: 23

Sex: Female

Sexual Preference: Bisexual

Species: Human

Alliance: Section 66

Appearance: Katie Benson, one of the most powerful humans alive and the wielder of the Dolor model Bloodline, is a name that few in the greater world would ever recognize. Unlike some of the other members of the clandestine Section 66, Katie’s story began in an unremarkable setting: she was the third daughter of a mystery writer and a house-bound husband who had injured his back years before her birth. She was an average girl with common looks and a submissively soft voice; the kind of child that blended into the carpet, more likely to be remembered by her attendance record than her classmates. For many years her two older sisters, both of whom had inherited brilliant minds from their mother, cast Katie in their shadows. Academically and socially, they eclipsed her, gaining favor from their teachers and their mother, who valued their outspokenness over Katie’s docility. The curiously apathetic Katie found herself watched over by her father, who saw in her a brokenness that comforted him—a bonding familiarity to his own injury. It was when an errant shard of glass from a broken plate cut into her foot that a flag was raised; she expressed no pain, no shock, no basic human reaction. After weeks of testing, a series of tumors were found along the base of her spine and wedged behind her thalamus.

Suddenly, Katie’s childhood was explained. The tumors, inoperable yet non-cancerous, interrupted all signals of pain and pleasure, cutting them off before they reached the parietal lobe, cerebral cortex, and her limbic system. Her whole life had been spent awash in a sea of numbness. The myriad psychological effects were what had rendered her docile and quiet, a personality disorder that stemmed from her inability to register senses that defined the wants and needs of humankind. Without pain, she had little to fear. Without pleasure, she had no desires or dreams. By age sixteen, Katie’s numbness had spread so deeply into her being that she lost the emotional attachment to her family, and on the night of her oldest sister’s twentieth birthday, she walked out of their home and never looked back. Unknowingly, she had left a cigarette burning in an ashtray set too close to a stack of napkins. By the time her family had realized that she was gone, the house had been set ablaze, and after their deaths her abandonment tied their souls to the ashes of their home. Turned to Hollow, they hunted Katie through instinct. It was her numbness that gave allowed her to survive; with no fear, fighting through wounds, she managed to escape, imparting her with a seed of spiritual power.

The years before her recruitment into Section 66 were spent on the road, and led to Katie becoming the woman she is today. She traveled from city to hamlet to town, caring little for what she did, where she was going, or who she shared a bed with. Age brought with it a body that men and woman fawned after. She has been blessed with an ample chest, subtle curves, and porcelain skin. Countless scars trace their way across her fluid form, all beneath her neck, and for each that was given to her by a Hollow or Shinigami, there is another by virtue of her uncaring nature and her haphazard approach to life. Only through luck has she avoided any noticeable wounds to her face, although it is only a matter of time before that too is scarred. As it stands, nearly every corner of her five foot, six inch body tells at least one story of injuries ignored.

Katie has been called the most ‘striking’ woman in the Bloodline class, much to the dismay of her more vain counterparts, namely Lhadi Kapur. What they lack is the draw of her intensity. As emotionless as she appears, there is an undeniable lure of unique mystery to her disinterested state; she is the woman who cannot be swooned; she is that girl who may give you her body, but has no interest in lending out her heart, or even a stray thought once the night is over. Her crystal blue eyes are made up with a black layer of eyeliner, stenciling in their emptiness like silver pools of placid water unaffected by desire. Her midnight hair is cut short in the back and long in the front, with bangs that sweep heavily over the left side of her face. Only her right ear is visible, although both have four silver rings that line their lower halves.

Like the other members of Section 66, the strict black suit dress-code applies to the ‘Enigma of Pain’. Her own uniform—a jacket, undershirt, slacks, and dress shoes—is a visual testament to the way that she fights and the manner in which she simply exists amidst the dangers around her; tears and cuts mar the quality fabric. More often than not, she forgoes the use of a tie, which is quite difficult for her to put on with the limited tactile sense in her hands. And despite consistent replacements being delivered on a mission-by-mission basis, the unpredictable way that Katie lives her life guarantees that each suit will reach the same condition within a few days, regardless of her deployment. In severe cases, the remainders of her uniforms are so badly stained with her own blood that they have to be incinerated to protect the secrecy of her Dolor nanites.

A particular feature unique to Katie’s uniform is a pair of reinforced black gloves that cover her hands up to the wrists. These are not worn by choice. Katharina Meer, the leader of Section 66, included them in her requisitions in order to downplay the appearance of the woman known to some as ‘the Scarred’. By hiding the wounds that cover her hands, the gloves make it more difficult for Katie’s opponents to predict her abilities. The shock of how much damage that she can take—how much she withstood in the past—has been the downfall of more than one of her opponents. Being able to see the myriad scars on her hands may hurt that particular advantage. On the outside of her left sleeve is the white ‘66‘ lettering sewn directly into the fabric, showing her allegiance and her place as a recipient of the most recent batch of Bloodline models. Those that fail to understand the meaning of such things have joined the unfortunate few who underestimate Katie. It is a grievous, fatal mistake.


Katie Benson: Enigma of Pain by NexusYuber

Personality: The series of tumors that rest at the base of Katie’s spine, wedged against her bones and between vital parts of her nervous system, have had every possible impact on her psychological development. She is numb to both pain and pleasure. A knife pressed against her skin sends all of the right signals to her nerves, yet they never reach the higher processes of her brain, stopped at the thalamus by the growths. The result is a dull sense of nothingness. She is completely aware that something has happened, and her body may recoil instinctively, but the actual sensation of pain is absent. The same is true for pleasure; even during sexual acts she only feels the pressure of weight or a ghost of breath upon her skin. This lack of vital sensory information, which has been with her since birth, managed to shape her into the person she is today, and serves as the core of her being.

Without the negative reinforcement granted by experiences with pain, Katie is unwittingly one of the bravest humans in history. She has no concept of what makes children recoil from a lit stove or why a knife should only be handled by its hilt; these things elude her completely. The ‘Enigma of Pain’ is, as such, eerily willing to waltz into situations that would give others, even those with the strength of a Bloodline, pause for thought. A Captain-class opponent with a weapon drawn would fail to cause a hiccup in her step, let alone a shiver down her spine. Such a threat would be faced with the knowledge that anything that happens to her would be no worse than a numb brush against her skin. In this same vein, she is nearly impossible to threaten, due equally to this lack of pain and to the abilities of her activation. She has no fear of death and sees it as a foreign concept not worthy of the mental effort.

The lack of pleasurable feelings has shaped the way that Katie functions in the world as much as her inability to feel pain. The positives of physical contact are unknown to her. The feeling of a warm, light breeze is indistinguishable from the chill of winter air. This has directly affected what motivates her. Without pleasure, Katie failed to develop a distinct set of wants and goals. She has a full range of emotions, fear aside, including motivational ones such as jealously and desire, yet they are shadows of what others feel. There is nothing that she desires so much that it drives her, nor is there anything that gives her enough pleasure to shape her long-term goals. Romantic involvement comes from that sliver of connection that she sometimes feels, but it is never enough to form true attachment. Her will to fight has roots in her ability to feel the slight adrenaline response, but even that is hindered psychosomatically by her psychological propensity towards numbness. The reason for her joining Section 66 is as much a way to feel these shadows of emotion as it is an act of loyalty towards Katharina, the only woman ever to have convinced Katie of her convictions.

As a social animal, Katie is simultaneously withdrawn and unusually open. She rarely seeks out companionship from others, especially those who sit outside of the Bloodline class. Yet, if approached, she never seems irritated. As such, many members of Section 66 can claim that they have spoken to her at length, although none may say that it was she who initiated the conversation. She is known to talk about any subject as if she were a regular civilian, only with little passion and few hardline opinions. Her soft voice has changed little since her teenage years, and even with the nigh-unstoppable power she commands, she never seems to project as much as others of her rank.

When Katie enters the fray, things change very little for her. Despite the life-or-death stakes that come with swords being drawn, her numbness to the world around her allows her to function perfectly in extremely high-stress situations. As a result, most fights are treated as run-of-the-mill experiences in her day-to-day life. She fails to see anything special about them, and she acts accordingly, openly wearing a blank or even bored expression on her face. And since she cannot feel the pain of wounds or the muscle fatigue that comes with a drawn-out battle, this lack of emotion can continue into scenarios that would see others of her strength wincing, features twisted by pain. The intimidation factor of seeing Katie take a vicious gash to the stomach, yet continue to fight almost casually, is disarming to say the least. And while she may not have the same drive to kill Shinigami and Hollow as some of the other members of Section 66, she sees no difference in the act than in anything else she does. All she feels is the numbness.


Katie Benson: Dolor by NexusYuber

Equipment:

Reinforced Gloves: The black gloves that Katie wears on her hands serve more than just one function. As useful they are in hiding her scars, they are also formidable weapons designed by Usko Shaningwa to give the Enigma of Pain an offensive edge over the Shinigami and Hollow that she is destined to fight. Each thread of the gloves was created by twisting together strands of lightweight silk and lab-made carbon filaments, along with a unique and powerful material—spiritual threads torn from the red soul ribbons of Shinigami. The resulting composite is so durable that Katie can use an open palm to stop a Captain-level technique, or grab hold of a released Zanpakutō without risking injury. While wearing the gloves, her punches, fearsome enough to pummel through concrete, barely scuff her knuckles. But their true power comes from the specific advantage that they give against Shinigami. Prolonged contact with the material is poisonous to one of these ‘death gods’, sapping their spiritual energy and releasing it into the atmosphere. This, combined with Katie’s incredible, pain-ignoring fortitude, makes her an absolute nightmare for Shinigami who find themselves gripped by her hands. Without the ability to feel pain, it is virtually impossible to make her let go, and such has been the fate of most of the otherworldly guardians that have had the grave misfortune of getting in her way.


Katie Benson: A Dangerous Catch by NexusYuber

Abilities:

Immunity to Sensation: Katie’s inability to feel the tactile sensations of pain or pleasure was the defining, near-superhuman factor in her recruitment into Section 66. Others around the world may have similar conditions affecting their nervous systems, but only she has the perfect combination of an uncaring mind and a lack of negative physical abnormalities, making her unique and particularly useful to the machinations of the organization. When applied to the field of combat, the benefits of her condition are countless. Outside of her fearless attitude and unmatched ability to fight through otherwise debilitating wounds, Katie is able to completely ignore any techniques that rely on causing her discomfort. Poisons, illusions, and spells that would make elite agents crumple to the ground do nothing to her. In the same vein, abilities that disarm through overwhelming sensations of pleasure have no effect. These immunities factor into Katie’s potential wild-card purpose within the Bloodline as a perfect counter to any threats who wield similar powers, and the scientists under their employ continually compile information on targets suspected of falling into that category.

Expert Hand-to-Hand Fighter: During her time on the road, Katie managed to find herself in countless scrapes and skirmishes against drunken idiots in bars and Hollow drawn to her by her latent spiritual power. A combination of fighting against these two vastly different kinds of foes taught her a great deal about hand-to-hand combat. But the foundation was only a rudimentary one. Her true skills were unlocked during her training with Section 66 and through the enhancements given to her by her Bloodline. Now, Katie has become a true force of power in melee range, able to swiftly deliver fearsome blows to her enemies that could see Captain-class foes seriously injured. While her specialty is grappling, given her immunity to pain, she is adept at a style similar to kickboxing, using equal parts arms and legs to deliver massive twisting blows to the torso and head. The only thing stopping her ascension to mastery of these fighting styles is her uncaring attitude towards blocking and dodging. She does little to mask the openings in her stance, providing numerous opportunities for skilled opponents to take advantage. While her incredible fortitude and regenerative capabilities often make these flaws a moot point, they still exist, and they hold her back from an even higher potential.

• Grappling: The particular skills that make the Enigma of Pain such an intimidating opponent are the same abilities that make her the perfect grappler. Without mental registration of pain or fatigue, it is nearly impossible to make Katie let go once she has a grip on her enemy. She has been known to grab hold of weapons mid-strike, or even after they have been embedded in her flesh, disarming her opponents unceremoniously; no amount of thrashing or attacks to her open body will cause her to stop. With a tendency to get in close and withstand whatever onslaught she has to in order to wrap her fingers around the throats of her foes, her enhanced strength has been the end of many of her slower enemies. In fact, anyone unable to outpace her runs the risk of being caught and wrestled to the ground, where her Bloodline abilities can take their full, devastating effect.

Immense Spiritual Power: As a child, Katie unintentionally caused the deaths of her father, mother, and two sisters, having left a lit cigarette next to flammable materials before abandoning them to wander the world on her own. Their spirits, filled with feelings of abandonment and hatred, quickly turned to Hollow and attacked her on the road. This extremely close call with personal Hollow granted Katie a particularly powerful internal well of Reiryoku, more than enough to 'seed’ her Bloodline model and produce an incredible amount of spiritual power. Should she choose to release it during battle, even Captains would have trouble keeping their footing. The colorless Reiatsu flows out of her in waves, pushing down on those around her repeatedly—each pulse holds enough force to collapse buildings and splinter trees. And because the work is done by the nanites, which gorge on the spiritual power to replenish their batteries, sustaining a high level of spiritual pressure is effortless to Katie. As soon as she steps into the fray, she can begin to utilize her immense Reiatsu, and she has no reason to stop until her foes lie dead on the floor. 


Katie Benson: Painless by NexusYuber

Enhanced Strength: The nanites that pulse within Katie’s bloodstream, feeding off of her internal well of spiritual energy, have greatly enhanced her strength with that same power, turning her from an ordinary woman into a superhuman. With little physical effort, she is capable of jumping across vast distances, stopping a speeding bus with an extended arm, and punching through steel. In every conceivable way, this makes her a far deadlier combatant than any normal human could ever hope to be. But the true benefit supplements her propensity towards grabbing hold of her victims and breaking them apart. With strength enough to tear bone like it were made of tissue paper, those who find themselves grappling with Katie run the serious and fatal risk of having their body compressed, twisted, or simply torn apart by her techniques. Her strikes can be powerful enough that, should she punch an enemy’s gut while wrestling them on the ground, the force would create a crater beneath them.

Enhanced Speed: Much in the way that the Bloodline nanites are capable of enhancing Katie’s strength, they also fortify her speed to the point where she can keep up pace with all but the fastest opponents. This is done by creating a finely shaped field of spiritual energy that allows the agent to effortlessly trek long distances in the blink of an eye. The Enigma of Pain, although much faster than any normal Shinigami or Hollow, is not particularly adept at the use of this technique and can be ably outpaced by those who have mastered their own movement abilities. In fact, this is likely the safest way to avoid inevitable death, as Katie’s abilities function best at a close range. However, she has a tendency to keep moving through injuries that would stop opponents far slower than her, so her speed can become moot when coupled with her ability to just keep on coming.

Immense Endurance: Surrounding Bloodline agents is a field of spiritual energy very similar to the Hierro of an Arrancar. This built-in defense allows them to withstand attacks from their godly enemies with little fear of death. Katie has managed to combine this with her already astounding endurance to become something akin to unstoppable, earning her the nickname of the ‘Hardest Woman to Kill’. All but the most powerful techniques brush off of her skin as if they were nothing, stopped by the energy field. Those that make it through are met by a body enhanced with an increased ability to sustain damage. Combined with her inherent inability to feel pain, these traits result in a woman who can walk through some of the most devastating onslaughts fearlessly, making her way to her target without batting an eye or slowing down due to fatigue.

Enhanced Regeneration: Should an attack somehow deal grievous injury to a major organ or muscle in Katie’s body, something that she would be incapable of telling due to her lack of sensation, the nanites within her body go to work to repair it. Unlike her higher brain functions, Katie’s Bloodline is designed to understand the nervous system signals for pain, pleasure, and injury, and they react accordingly, seeking out the source and repairing it at a mindlessly rapid pace. Although she is incapable of reconnecting limbs outside of her Activation, her regenerative abilities are so strong that broken bones knit in less than ten seconds, and internal bleeding is stopped just as quickly. Only by liquefying her organs, decapitation, or decimating her body is death assured. And the Enigma of Pain is capable of fighting up until the bitter end.

Average Intellect: Perhaps Katie’s greatest weakness, her intelligence is only slightly above average for a normal human. By most standards, this would be a non-issue. However, with Section 66 containing such strong minds as Usko, Scott, and Katharina, her ‘average’ is downgraded to ‘sub-par’, and she is often seen as a blunt instrument—a point-and-shoot agent with little ability to strategize or command tactical troops effectively. Although she is feared by many for her alien abilities and uncaring attitude, none find her strategic intelligence threatening. This does little to affect her on the battlefield, however. With her capability of walking through fire to get to her targets, higher strategies are rarely needed. And with her non-clashing personality, she is an ideal candidate to team up with someone who has the skills that she does not.
This is part 1 of Katie Benson's sheet, which contains general information about the character.

Part 2, which contains information about her Bloodline and Activation, can be found here.

Part 3, which contains information about her Overload, can be found here.

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This reference sheet represents a member of Section 66—an original group of humans in my non-canon Bleach world. While she may seem overpowered, this particular description is not the one I use in roleplay—the power scales represented in its text are only in relation to the personal stories and the fiction which I write. When roleplaying, I use altered sheets with abilities to scale with the setting, completely devoid of power comparisons.

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