February 11, 2016

042. MADAM DEADHEAD

Everything was happening so fast! But for Tiffany Griffin that was just fine. She had met up with her old college friends, Crystal, Alexis, Rivcah, Kharma and Ja’Nique, in Vegas for a bachelorette party on a Friday; had a ridiculously wild night of casino games, dancing and toasting champagne on that Friday night; and then woke up on that Saturday with hyper abilities! Then, she and her friends (who also all woke up with hyper abilities) had been kidnapped from their hotel suite, dragged down to an underground science laboratory and confined by energy shackles! That’s where Tiffany learned that one of the champagne bottles they had drunk was actually spiked with a hyper-serum that had been brought to Vegas by a mad-scientist named Vic Carnel who just happened to be the brother of Ray Carnel, the owner of the hotel they were staying in AND the boyfriend of her friend, Kharma.

Bio

Birth Name

Tiffany Griffin

Aliases

Madam Deadhead

Species

Hyper-human; female

Birth Details

Bronx, NY, USA, Earth (Core Reality); Late 21st Century

Powers, Abilities, Weapons & Tools

Madam Deadhead has diesel-powered muscles which gives her super strength. Her diesel-fused body can also interface with anything with an engine and gives her limited telekinetic control over vehicles of all types. Madam Deadhead’s primary weapon is an electrified chain-link whip. She also drives the Sista Clique’s mobile command center, the Pink and Black Attack, which is an 18-wheeler big rig that has been modified and customized to fit the needs of the heroic all-lady supergroup.

The Story

Then Tiffany had watched as Kharma (still confined by energy shackles at this point ) broke up with her boyfriend who, after being the perfect man for the better part of two years, had revealed himself to be an associate of two of the most diabolical business minds in the world, Edgar Lockhart and Reina Valencia. After that, Tiffany had to watch as her friend Crystal was transformed by a team of bio-tech engineers into a half-woman-half-cyborg who would come to be known as Cybernetica! And once that was done, Tiffany and her friends were fitted with mind-control devices that would cause them to follow Ray Carnel’s commands, with his intention being to use the newly super-powered group of ladies as his own personal security team. But that didn’t go so well for Ray, as Tiffany’s friend Alexis (who would come to be known as “Girl Six” for her ability to multiply herself six times) broke free of the mind control and subsequently freed the other ladies. Happy ending, right? Wrong!

Tiffany’s friend Rivcah, who would come to be known as “Shanga,” betrayed them and took Ray’s side in a battle that nearly killed them all! Luckily Tiffany and the rest of the ladies were able to figure out how to use their powers well enough to defeat Shanga and force the bad guys to retreat. Speaking of powers, Tiffany had developed a whole slew of hyper abilities!

But before we get into that, let’s backtrack just a little bit. After graduating from Emory University, Tiffany had no intention of doing anything conventionally. She had always been a free spirit – the kind of gal that lives in the moment and makes huge, life-changing decisions on a whim. She refused to be tied down to any one place, one person or one anything. So it was no surprise she changed majors a dozen times in college. And it was no surprise that for the first six years after graduating she didn’t stay at one job for longer than a few months. And it definitely wasn’t a surprise when she finally settled on a career in truck driving. She absolutely loved it! It was perfect for her curious and adventurous spirit. It was ideal for her insistently wandering mind. And it was the most appropriate fix for her need for speed!

Her constant change of scenery had become only the second consistent thing in her life. The first, of course, was her homegirls, The Sista Clique. In college, the six of them were part of the same sorority as well as a step/dance team that put on some of the most amazing performances this side of the Platinum City chasm. And even after graduating, they had all made it a point to stay in touch. So when she got the call that Alexis was celebrating her impending nuptials in Las Vegas, she put her big rig in gear and headed for the City of Lights.

And that brings us back to Tiffany’s powers. After drinking the hyper serum, she found that her muscles were now diesel-powered, making her ten-times stronger than an average human being. She also had the power to interface with anything that had an engine and could now telekinetically control cars, trucks, aircrafts, and more! She took on the name Madam Deadhead (with “deadhead” being a trucking term that refers to a rig pulling an empty trailer), and would soon take her place as the Sista Clique’s muscle.

Her powers came in handy during that weekend in Vegas, as the ladies would learn that though they may have escaped from Ray Carnel’s science lab of horror, they had incidentally become targets of Ray’s benefactors, Reina Valencia and Edgar Lockhart – especially Kharma lucky, who now had a powerful telekinetic mind that was potentially extremely valuable to Ms. Valencia’s artificial intelligence development company.

The sadistic businesswoman first sent two of her most trusted henchwomen, the speedsters Courtney Quick and Jessica Dash, to take down the Sista Clique. But after an epic showdown on the Vegas Strip, the heroes prevailed and forced the villains to retreat.

And that was just Tiffany’s first weekend as a hyper-human.

When Monday came, they had all finally realized the gravity of their situation – and that realization was that all of their lives had been ruined. For some of them, their jobs were either lost or in jeopardy; for most of them, they would have to figure out how to explain their new powers to their husbands, fiances, children and others; and for all of them, they would have to adapt to life as hyper-humans. All of them were feeling a certain degree of panic, despondency and depression.

Well, all of them except Madam Deadhead! Tiffany fully embraced the new adventure and reveled in her new powers. She attempted to convince the others to do the same. She told them that they could reform the Sista Clique and be a brand new supergroup! Kharma agreed, as she had vowed to get some revenge on her ex-boyfriend/ex-employer, but Crystal, Alexis and Ja’Nique still refused to accept their new realities.

Then Vic Carnel pulled them together and informed them that Ray and Reina would continue to hunt them (and their loved ones) forever, unless they struck back first. This galvanized the ladies and they all agreed to stick together until the job was done. The Sista Clique was officially reborn!

The ladies all canceled their flights back home and proceeded to put in calls to all the pertinent people. Alexis’s wedding would have to be postponed; Crystal’s husband would have to take care of their daughters on his own for a little while longer; and Ja’Nique would have to take a few more vacation days from her job at The Powerhouse Network while she figured out how to explain to them what had happened.

Then, for the next week, the ladies prepared for what would be the fight of their lives. They tested the limits of their powers; equipped themselves with tools and weapons and learned everything they could from Vic Carnel about Edgar Lockhart, Reina Valencia and the multi-national company the two of them ran, Universal Intelligence. But most importantly, Madam Deadhead proceeded to transform her rig, “The Pink and Black Attack”, into a mobile battle station and command center.

Now the Sista Clique was truly ready. They thanked Vic for all his help, then loaded up and headed for Universal Intelligence World Headquarters in Northern California.

They were barely two hours into their trip when suddenly someone tried to run them off the road. But Madam Deadhead was able to avoid disaster and quickly regained control. She looked into her mirrors and saw a woman on a motorcycle who was rapidly disappearing and reappearing behind them…

This was the hyper-being Blindspot and she was on a mission: to capture Kharma Lucky and make the Sista Clique disappear… permanently!