Samantha Grey - DU Hero

Some Info about Living with her as a bunkmate is here.  Those wishing to draw her more casually:  She dresses in jeans with a hole cut for her tail and either tank-tops or blouses, usually with a hip-satchel at her side containing potions.  If fighting armed, her preference is the use of ninja, peasant, chained or similar weapons (Tonfa, Sai, Nunchucks Kusari-gama, Knives, Bolos, etc...)

Basics:
Name: Samantha Grey
Age: 25 (as of 2017)
Birthday: November 1
Gender: Female
Species: Cambion (Half-succubus)
Nationality:  Irish Citizen born in the United States
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 132 lb
Bust Size: B
Blood Type: AB-
Hair: Red
Eyes: Red

Powers:
-Witch:  An accomplished hermetic and druidic witch, Sam knows a assortment of spells, focused in illusions, short-range teleportation, invisibility, hexes and lightning.  She has a solid understanding of Alchemy and is excellent at implementing her magic in novel fashion. Samantha's Potions and Spells are explained in detail Here .
-The Flame of Azrael:  Stolen from her Father, the flame of life and death is now hers to wield.  It both heals and harms depending on her intent.  Its harm takes the form of her signature attack, the necrotic "frostfire," which freezes instead of burning.  Her healing ability is limited to non-fatal wounds, and she cannot regenerate lost limbs or organs, also taking more concentration than Frostfire.
-Demonic Biology:  She can regenerate from non-fatal wounds, regenerate limbs and can drain the life force of a person through a carnal act.  She does also have a prehensile tail and retractable claws, and a few curiosities of biology as opposed to human physiology.
-Skills:  
--Samantha is well trained in espionage, stealth and counter-intelligence techniques, and is a skilled martial artist with a focus on Tonfajutsu, Savate and Karate.  Her style is centered on swift take-downs. 
--She is skilled in herbal and paramedic medical knowledge.
--She is an accomplished cook, though with her weak tastebuds, she has a penchant for heavy spices that make some of her dishes debatably palatable to most humans unless she prepares with them in mind.

Lost Powers:
-Flight: Samantha lost her wings at the hands of Deadboy () during the events of the Freedom War. Sheered off by his scythe, her spiritual connection to them is lost and they are permanently gone.
-Conditional Immortality:  Samantha does not have the level of control of the Flame of Azrael that her Father had after a millenia of use, and cannot come back from the dead.  Though she does not age normally, death is final for her.

Personality:
Samantha is best termed a fighting spirit. She does not easily come to trust others, largely because most of the time she is either betrayed by those around her because of her father's curse, or she is the cause of their personal destruction, making it dangerous to be close to them. The inevitability of this in the last year of her life has rendered her calloused and jaded, wishing little to do with others. She wishes it were otherwise, but circumstances make her both very hard to get to know better and also very desperate for someone she can legitimately trust. Part of her wishes that she could smile as she once did, laugh and play like other young women her age. However, her demonic blood, her frequent bouts with mayhem and trouble and human nature all make it increasingly difficult to do so. For now, a friend would be lovely, but first someone would need to earn her trust.

History:
Samantha Grey is the daughter of Naomi Grey and an Incubus, a Duke of hell by the name of Valefar. For reasons that completely escaped Naomi, she was permitted to survive her encounter with Valefar, and the neophyte sorceress fled the company of normal society, seeking refuge in a remote community in the Appalachian Mountains, off the beaten path in West Virginia. There, she raised Samantha and taught her 'the old ways,' living in a community of similarly 'gifted' individuals who would be misunderstood by most society. Adept beyond her mother's skill, Samantha departed to seek more powerful teachers at the age of eighteen. It was only then that her father struck, finally returning to claim and kill her mother, making it appear to be a suicide. Samantha, however, was always suspicious when she learned of Naomi's death, especially due to a dream she had of her Father the very same night.

The duke took a special interest in Samantha. Seeing in the Cambion a potential source of power, influence or at least a potent pawn, he visited her in the midst of her fitful sleep that night. The demon implanted seven seeds within the girl, spiritual siphons drawing power from the mortal sins of mankind and coercing them in others around Samantha to bring her repeated woe. This began a hellish crucible of misfortune at the hands of others. Worse, they made it such that even death was no protection, causing the girl to be brought back to life the next night if she suffered a great enough tragedy, with a full memory of whatever horrors she had faced. Whatever would come when all seven sins germinated within her was unclear, but as she came to realize her father's influence, the half demon actively defied his wishes as best she could manage.

The year and a half following her eighteenth birthday was spent living at the fringes of society. Having no social security number or other identification, Samantha was effectively an illegal alien, off the grid. She worked odd jobs when able and attempted to keep a low profile. Tragedy seemed to follow her naturally, however, leading her to develop an increasingly cynical attitude towards most people, and to develop her magical powers more and more as a defensive mechanism and protection against the supernatural threats that she was more frequently encountering. For now, she has not yet found any hope of escaping her Father's influences, but with greater power comes the possibility of escape and greater risk of corruption.

Recent History:
Pre-VC - Samantha spends the early stages of her career as a supernatural figure largely lying low, struggling with her supernatural urges and fleeing suspicious authorities. During her flight, Samantha runs afoul of the Naga Janine, an event which leads both to her fear of snakes and her first death. She also makes contact with Juny and Emppu (), both relationships that seem doomed to failure, as the former awakens the seed of Animositas/Wrath, and the latter just... well, can't seem to ever get his life into any semblance of order. After the awakening of Animositas, she dies at Juny's hands in vengeance for the demon's actions through her.
Viper's Colosseum - Samantha comes back to life after her largely unexplained third death on the shores of Viper's island fortress. She is one of the last, surprise entrants into Viper's contest. She emerges in third place, surprisingly, among the competitors and successfully faces off against one of Viper's own champions, the captured and temporarily corrupted Yenna Dragona (both ), aiding in the release of the elf warrior from her captivity. She forms strange bonds with Rufus Schwarzkreuz (), Black Betty (), Riese "Dusk" Kiffe () along with others, and finds herself in a twisted rivalry/camaraderie with the latter until her untimely death at the hands of Goth Dragomir ().

Samantha Swears after sealing Riese's body into a pocket realm to preserve it from further harm that she will bring her back to life somehow. She is one of the only participants to escape the clutches of Viper and Hybris () without losing her memories and sets off.
-Superbia: Samantha, seeking a means to bring Riese back to life, runs afoul of the inquisitor Judas Guile, and is forced to make a horrendous choice, leading to the awakening of the Seed of Pride, Superbia. The events are both harrowing and dark, though she does survive. During her subsequent flight, she will die at the hands of some creatures within the forgotten woods of the Americas, but she never loses access to the pouch she uses to carry her spell components or the focus for Riese's safe-house
-Freedom War: Samantha is forced, finally, into visibility within the Deviant Universe during the Freedom War. Fleeing capture and incorporation into RAPTOR's ranks, she is seriously wounded by Deadboy () and loses her wings forever. She teams up with Rufus once again and sides with the members of the Freedom Force, remaining at the fringes during the confrontation that leads to the Host's death and the end to the war. Somehow, she flees with the use of her magics after the confrontation, and her file remains largely empty, most of RAPTOR's information on her sketchy at best.
-Descent into Hell/Luxus: Samantha finally manages, after a series of harrowing challenges that mimic Odysseus' own journeys into that dark realm, to find and rescue the spirit of Riese Kiff. In doing so, she destroys the Seed of Lust, Luxus and uses it as the focus of bringing her dead ... whatever one calls it back to life. Before she can deal with unresolved emotions over the whole affair, however...
-Asgard Eventide: Samantha is drawn into the struggles of another world. Though to the realm of the Deviant Universe, she appears to be gone not but a few seconds and returns just away from where Riese was left to resume her journeys, Samantha was trapped in the midst of another world's "Ragnarok" for what amounted to almost a year and a half, knowing that she might be returned there at any time to finish the job. That world, ruled over by another version of the norse gods, waged war against the giants of Thrymheim and Muspelheim, and Samantha was forced to face off against numerous strange and abnormal creatures, gaining the aid and friendship (and in one case even a sort of twisted romance) of individuals also abducted from numerous worlds, some like her own, some very different.

Here, she learned "Puppetry" under the patronage of Hel, and her struggles with her demonic nature took on gruesome implications, as she was unable to remain apart from society during her darker spells, or to avoid the consequences of those spells. After almost a year and a half, though, she was returned, only to find her Father's influence strengthened severely as he detected that others had stolen her away without his permission...
(For those curious, the events of the Asgard Eventide are ongoing here: link and link . The duration of her first stay is loosely based upon her expected "Canon Update" point around the tail end of 2013. Effectively leaving that realm and returning after the events of Omega Rising and facing Diffido, Redundo and Abrienda in the coming months).
-Omega Rising/Invidia-Abrienda:
Samantha returned to the realm of the Deviant Universe with no memory of the Asgard Eventide, but stirrings hint that Viper was on the move. Concerned about Riese's fate, as the two were separated by the oddities of exiting Hell, she tries to find out what the two are doing only to run afoul of Black Betty () and Doctor Rainey () while Potu () destroyed the gates of Hell located within the Rock of Gibraltar, along with the stony edifice, in a semi-orbital bombardment. She was forced to flee the wrath of the two, both empowered by the godling Omega () and more than a match for her, as the demon seed within her representing Envy attempted to corrupt her to take the same power Omega offered all villains. She managed to escape barely with her life and was healed by the Red Sage (), who attempted to warn her of her corruption, though she refused further aid and the two parted company on neutral terms.

Samantha further refused Envy, knowing that only through sacrificing something she actually valued could she be free of the seed's influence. She had nothing, her magic being something from her demonic blood she couldn't give up, other than her freedom. And so, she took a communicator from a forgotten, dead hero and sought out the Thunder Force's plea for heroic aid. This led to a tense confrontation due to Threadjacker's influence upon the Thunder Force. However, the word of Vile Creed and Yenna Dragona () allowed her to convince them to let her aid the heroes in the fight against Omega's forces. She was sent alongside Pulsador (:icond3k4b1u3:), Wolf Knight (), Roadmaid (), Blade Okizama () and "Fancy" () to take down the forces allied to Titamazona, holding sway over Brazil and the northern portions of the Amazonian forests and Andes. While Roadmaid and Fancy led up jointly the humanitarian aid and Wolf Knight was sent to face their own demons, Blade, Samantha and Pulsador took on Titamazona, only for Sam and Blade to be waylaid by Rose Thorn () and Allie (:icond3k4b1u3:). As they succeeded and saw Pulsador burn himself out to take down the titanic mecha, all of them were caught in the swell of a titanic teleportation field catching all metahumanity and heroes, invoked by Vigil () and seemingly putting an end to the Deviant Universe.

-"The New DU"/Invidia
Samantha and Threadjacker awoke at about the same time, outside of the rebuilding regions of Hollywood. Finally forced to confront the death of Galina, Samantha revealed the identity of Judas Guile and sent Threadjacker off to find the man who caused her sister's death, letting her know that she would be seeking out the Thunder Force herself, should the speedster and time controller demand more than simply information down the road. The two did not part on pleasant terms, but they parted in relative peace.

Samantha then left, seeking Yenna Dragona, Riese Kiffe and the Thunder Force, as unbeknownst to her, Valefar emerged from the wreckage of Hell's gates at the Rock of Gibraltar.

-"Redundo/Monster Mash"

While others struggled to find their place in the new world order, Samantha sought out the Thunder Force actively, along with attempting to gain word from Yenna () of the status of some of their shared interests.  She came into contact with the elf, along with Arrow-Kill (:icon-mja42x:) of the Thunder Force, in Los Angeles, the three of them tangling separately with the newly minted "Techno Mongers" organization bent on edging what were now called 'Deviants' out of their positions of power.  Arrow-Kill and Yenna both suggested Samantha seek out the TF headquarters in a month or so, but lay low in the meantime.

Laying low, however, proved impossible.  Valefar hired the Friendly BioPet Corporation (all members property of ) through its own new corporate arm, "Scapegoat Incorporated" to capture Samantha for testing.  Their fish-morph fighter Morgan was sent as one of the first task force members to target Samantha as part of the Meta Chasers initiative.  Following directions from Valefar, she found and engaged the cambion.  The fight was short but brutal, both leaving the other wounded, though Morgan emerged victorious.  She and her ally George drove Samantha across the border into facilities within Mexico where testing could begin.  

At Valefar's direction, the seed of gluttony, Redundo, was elecro-magnetically removed from Samantha in an excruciating process, the Mox Bree guarding her during her stay at the facility.  Redundo cheated Valefar out of control over the last seed, Diffido, by placing most of her remaining life force into the final seed and strengthening the spirit of Sloth well beyond what any of the seeds were originally.  After the near fatal encounter, Samantha used her magic and a succubus' seductive wiles to briefly enchant Bree.  Kissing her to regain some of her life force, she fled in disguise with the girl as Gregory Veillance sent out the guards.  In the aftermath, Samantha swore she would seek Bree out to try and rescue the indoctrinated hybrid and knocked her out before fleeing.

Her escape proved problematic, as she found herself in the tail edges of an attack initiated by the Tribals ().  Having released gigantic plants whose pollen created monsters, they watched the chaos in glee and used it as a smokescreen for their own activities.  Samantha encountered one of these plants occupying downtown Guadalajara and risked her life to break in and destroy the thing.  In the midst of the fight, she found the resolve to make her way to Thunder Force Headquarters, wanting to protect those who could not protect themselves in the midst of metahuman attacks.

-"Diffido"

--The Team Expands

Samantha made her way to the TF Headquarters as the Mighty American () initiated a recruitment drive along with Agent 42X ().  Wanting to expand the team in the face of growing threats, they put out the call to numerous other super-powered heroes around the globe and were shocked by the sheer number of responses they got.  Over forty different heroes made their bid to join the team, enough that they were comfortably able to expand TF assets to encompass three separate teams across the globe:  Alpha (headed by Johnny Washington), Beta (Headed by Slade) and Gamma (headed by Marcia "Firebird" Tallington ().  Samantha, much to her surprise, was selected for Gamma Team, whose original roster was nine strong:

In her initial stages, she began to get re-acquainted with Marcia, who she recalled from the whole Viper's Colosseum incident, and attempted to get used to a far more public life than she'd had before, while thoughts of Bree, Dusk, her Mother's Soul and Valefar all lingered in her mind.  Her presence on the team was, initially, something of a difficult one.  She struggled with several of her teammates, including Firebird, over her tactics and general preference towards stealth operations.  As a result, she gravitated towards Ghost and Leo, while maintaining an attempt at civility with Marcia.  An unlikely friendly contact began to develop in the waning time of the three team structure with School Girl, the two eventually coming to terms with each other's semi-shared infernal heritage during the battle against Psi-Void over the moon.

-"Industria"
--The Team Solidifies:
In the wake of the three-pronged attacks of Psi-Void, ARES and the Dark Legion, it became increasingly clear that the Thunder Force could not solve the worlds' collective problems, and was in fact ill-suited for some of them.  Emboldened by their collective victories against several of the threats the Thunder Force could not face, and strengthened by a desire to use their own methods to face off against various Deviant threats, other teams began to form.  Chief among these were the clandestine Havoc Group, interstellar Outsiders and the splinter cell of the Thunder Force that would come to be known as the Renegades.  Samantha remained, however, loyal to the Thunder Force and the oaths she had made upon joining.  Under the Mighty American's leadership, she became the representative Scout of the 10 man Thunder Force, maintaining as much contact as she could to former members of the team.

Current Team Roster:  Arrow-Kill (Acting Team Leader), Centauri, Crush, Firebird, Loa, Mighty American (Out of Commission), Mr Happy, Professor Goyle, Samantha Grey, Tanook